


Running in Circles (now look what you’ve done)

by ChaoticCosmos



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, but then i got ideas, isa plot bunny is what it is, tbh this was originally just meant to be a one shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 00:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13178256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticCosmos/pseuds/ChaoticCosmos
Summary: After a fight between Cisco and Harry, Vibe breaches out to take on a new metahuman. This leads to a sequence of less-than-fortunate happenings.Or alternatively, Cisco just can’t catch a break.





	1. Bolt

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song Friends by Chase Atlantic.

   They were in the workshop, hands working around this and that in order to apply the upgrades to The Boot after it had short-curcuited the last time someone used it. No one had spoken in a while and silence inveloped the room, a rarity for the two men but not an unwelcome one. Not that Harry didn’t enjoy the constant bickering, but the times when the pair could just work together in peace, those were the best times. Cisco made a pun about one of the tools he was using, Harry didn’t roll his eyes. Harry told Cisco a story about why he fired one of his employees, Cisco didn’t reprimand him about being nicer to people. It was nice. But the illusion was soon broken by the sound of some pop song Harry didn’t recognise playing from Cisco’s phone and causing Cisco to jump.

   He checked the name on the screen before answering and chiming out an enthusiastic “Hey, Bar, what’s up?” Harry put down the tool he had been using and leaned against the counter, rubbing his temple and sighing. It’s not as though he couldn’t finish the upgrades on his own, it’s simple enough as it is, but there were some parts that were easier with an extra set of hands. Harry refused to admit he just prefers working with Cisco. He also refused to admit that his eyes linger on the smile Cisco exhibits when talking to Barry, or the way he wishes that smile was for him. He instead took a moment to consider how difficult it might be to construct a second pair of hands that he could control with a pyschic link but before his thought could get very far he hears Cisco agree to help Barry with something, moving to type on his PC. Harry rolled his eyes at how typical it was for the other to drop what he’s doing just to help Barry.

  
   ‘Ramon.’ Harry spoke as a reminder of what they were doing. Cisco glanced over his shoulder, unimpressed at being interrupted.

  
   ‘Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute.’ He grumbled, waving Harry off and returning to the PC. ‘Yeah, Barry, I’m still here, I’m sending it through to you now.’ They spoke for another minute before Cisco finally hung up the phone, sliding it into his back pocket.

  
   ‘What was the _oh so important emergency that you had to drop everything for_ this time?’ Harry questioned, crossing his arms.

  
   ‘No emergency, Barry just needed help with something for at case at CCPD.’ Cisco shrugged. Harry hummed a noise of contempt and disapproval. ‘What’s your damage, Harry?’ Cisco questioned, standing up straighter and mirroring Harry’s action of crossing his arms. _Jealousy_ , part of Harry’s mind whispered, Harry brushed it away but didn’t reply. ‘What problem do you have with me helping my friend?’

  
   ‘I don’t have a problem with you helping a friend, I have a problem with you consistently dropping what you’re doing just because someone asked you to. You’re so—’ Harry paused to consider his words which Cisco found odd as usually Harry would just say what he was thinking.

  
   ‘I’m so _what_?’ He demanded, his voice dropping to an octave Harry had only heard a couple of times in the past when Cisco had fought with Hartley.

  
   ‘You’re so— blindly obedient!’ Harry finally finished, moving one arm to make some sort of guesture. Cisco looked caught off gaurd as he shifted his arms in an anxious, embarrassed fashion.

  
   ‘I’m not blindly obedient.’ He defended as his eyes fonud interest in something on the floor. Harry moved forwards to the table that held The Boot which they had been working on merely moments ago, he rested his hands on the surface next to the machine.

  
   ‘Ramon, come here.’ Harry instructed, his voice level. Cisco reluctantly looked back up to meet Harry’s gaze. He moved back to the table and lowered his arms in order to lean on the table. There was half a glare fixed in his eyes when he ground out a “ _What_?” to question both why Harry had called him over and also why Harry was looking at him with something akin to satisfaction and curiosity. ‘Case in point.’ Harry sighed. Cisco bristled in response, his grip on the table tightened and his glare hardened. ‘That’s what it was like with him, wasn’t it?’ Harry questioned and Cisco didn’t have to ask to know who he was talking about, but there was something different about Harry’s voice now, something quiet and unsure, but something Cisco couldn’t quite place. ‘Just doing whatever he asked without question, like a puppy.’ Cisco heard the words reverberate in his mind and was reminded of Hartley, was reminded of Dante, was reminded of evil not-Wells.

  
   ‘I don’t know what you think gives you the right to assume things about what life was like when he was around but—’

  
   ‘He had you all chasing your tails.’ Harry cut him off, ‘but you, Ramon, he could ask you to sit, stay, and roll over and you would do it, wouldn’t you?’ Cisco thought about how fortunate Harry was that they had a table between them, otherwise he’s sure he would’ve punched the knowing look right off of Harry’s face. He debated using his powers but instead turned on his heels and stormed out of the room, not stopping when he blasted a cart out of the way, whether he blew the cart to the side or a hole through it he wasn’t sure and didn’t stop to check. Harry watched on, shocked at the outburst. They always fight, it’s what they do, but this had been different. There was no win here, no push and pull, no satisfaction. They both knew he was right but he hadn’t considered it would be such a sore spot. He considered going after the other but something stopped him. He should’ve gone after him.

  
   Cisco made his way to the Cortex and his presence captured Caitlin and Iris’ attention as he began to pace, muttering something about “that insufferable prick”. Caitlin and Iris shared a look. Caitlin was the first to speak.

  
   ‘What did Harry do this time?’ She questioned, keeping her tone neutral.

  
   ‘Yeah, I’ve never seen you his worked up about something, he must’ve really struck a nerve.’ Cisco hated that Iris could read people so well, he was half convinced she was a meta-human but he didn’t have one of Harry’s meta-human watches to confirm it. The thought of Harry, however, sent another wave of irritation over him. ‘You’re like a second— third?— second brother to me, Cisco, if you want me to slap him just say the word and I’m there.’ Cisco took her offer as the truth, Iris being one of the most intimidating people he knew, but disn’t reply and rather opted for seething in silence.

   There was a sudden beeping and Everyone’s heads snapped to the nearest monitor to see a meta-human alert. Without thinking, Cisco opened a breach.

  
   ‘Cisco, wait—’ Caitlin called after him but Cisco had already stepped through the breach before she could stop him. Cisco stepped out into his apartment where his suit was always ready waiting for him. He quickly changed and, for the first time, arrived at the scene before Barry.

   The meta-human was a girl not much taller than Cisco, who was wearing a navy blue suit, not dissimilar from Jesse’s, and had her black hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Cisco barely had time to register the smirk that reached her blue eyes when she rushed forward, blue-purple lighting followings her. She delivered a hard punch to his stomach which caused him to double over in pain.

   ‘Speedster - that’s fun.’ Cisco remarked, catching his breath and opening a new breach to evade the girl’s next attack. Once Cisco’s feet were both flat on the ground again, Cisco turned to the girl and sent out a blast that held her in place. When he lifted her off of the ground it was his turn to smirk, thinking how it felt like a Syndrome from _The Incredibles_ moment - but with better hair.

   Harry made his way to the Cortex once he heard the alert. He noted that Snow and West were at the monitors, he also noticed that it was Ramon fighting the meta rather than Allen. Iris noticed Harry’s entrance and, before he could ask what the situation was, had moved in front of him and delivered a slap across his face.

   ‘I deserved that.’ Harry commented moving to rub his cheek.

   ‘What the _hell_ did you say to him?’ Iris near-yelled. ‘I have never seen him so cross, you must’ve really stepped the line this time.’ She prodded Harry’s chest with her finger, heat filling her voice.

   ‘I don’t think that’s any of your concern, West—’

   ‘Like hell its none of my concern.’ She countered. ‘He’s like a brother to me and I’m not going to let a prick like you hurt him.’ Caitlin would’ve stepped in to side with Iris but she figured someone should be watching the monitors, so instead she chimed in with shouts of “ _yeah!_ ” and “ _exactly!_ ” at times she deemed appropriate. Harry moved Iris’ finger from where it was still digging into his chest.

   ‘How’s he doing?’ He asked, keeping his voice calm and void of emotion.

   ‘Amazing, no thanks to you.’ Iris said, there was less heat in it but she was still mad.

   ‘Uh, I wouldn’t speak so soon.’ Caitlin said, anxiety filling her tone.

   ‘Not this time, Cisco.’ The speedster spoke. Cisco was taken back by her knowing his name but then he saw her vibrate so fast that she became nothing. Cisco dropped his arms and scanned the area. He watched as her form returned but before he could send another blast her way she had already sped forward and knocked Cisco 5ft through the air to land on his back. In another burst of lightning, the girl had straddled Cisco and unzipped his suit jacket.

   ‘Really, as flattered as I am I feel like we’ve missed a couple of steps.’ Cisco quipped as he pushed his goggles onto is forehead and looked up at the woman. ‘Hi, I’m Cisco but you already knew that. And you are?’ He questioned. The girl smirked at him, appreciating his humour.

   ‘The name’s Bolt.’ She replied. She then pressed her fingers to her ear and appeared to be talking to someone on the other side. ‘Sir, I have him. Shall I bring him in?’ Bolt questioned. Cisco couldn’t hear the other person’s response but the girl looked confused and annoyed. ‘But, Sir— . . . Fine.’ She grumbled the last word and then turned her attention back to Cisco. ‘Sorry to do this, but also not really.’ Bolt commented as she began rubbing her hands together at a superhuman speed. It didn’t take Cisco too long to realise what she was doing but by time he had it was too late. Bolt pressed her hands to Cisco’s body and he cried out into the empty street as a white hot pain seered through his body and caused his muscles to tense. Then everything slowly went warm and black, like falling asleep.

   Iris’ head snapped to Caitlin at her words and Harry pushed forwards to the monitors. There was a deafening yell that Harry felt shake his bones and then only silence. ‘Ramon? Ramon, what’s happening?’ He called but to no response. Harry could feel the shake in his hands and a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. ‘ _Cisco? Hello?_ ’ Still no response. Harry looked to the others. ‘Where’s Allen?’ He asked.

   ‘We don’t know - we haven’t been able to get into contact with him.’ Caitlin responded, sounding as panicked as he felt. With Barry being MIA and Wally being on Earth-2 with Jesse, Harry fished keys out of his pocket and made his way out to the van. Harry managed to cut a ten minute drive into five minutes with Caitlin’s directions to avoid police and his own less-than-safe driving. He pulled up in the empty street and didn’t even think to shut the door when he made his way to where Cisco was lying unconscious on the hard concrete.

   ‘Ramon, can you hear me?’ Harry called out, kneeling next to the boy. ‘Come on, Cisco,’ He mumbled as he pressed his fingers to Cisco’s throat to feel for a pulse. His stomach sank when he felt nothing.

   ‘Harry, what’s going on?’ Caitlin asked through the comms.

   ‘There’s no pulse.’ Harry tried to keep his voice level but he could hear it shaking. Caitlin said something about CPR but Harry had already situated his hands, one over the other, on Cisco’s chest, beginning compressions. He counted quietly to himself but his panic grew every second the boy below him didn't open his eyes. Caitlin was talking slow and calmly in Harry’s ear - as calmly as she could manage in the moment - and, while Harry knew what he was doing, he appreciated not having to feel alone. Harry reached his 26th compression when Cisco inhaled deeply, eyes fluttering open and head coming minutely off of the ground from the force before finding its way back to the concrete. Cisco’s eyes took a second to scan the sky, the stars that were barely starting to appear, before reaching Harry.

   ‘Harry,’ he barely whispered before his eyes fluttered shut again.

   ‘Snow,’ Harry breathed, just starting to regain control of the shaking in his voice, ‘he’s breathing but passed out right after waking up.’ One of Harry’s hands moved to rest on Cisco’s jaw just so that he could feel both his pulse and his slowly steadying breathing. Harry tried not to think about how the warmth of Cisco’s skin seeped into the coldness of his hand while Caitlin spoke.

   ‘Bring him back into the lab,’ she instructed. ‘We’re still trying to get a hold of Barry.’ Harry didn’t reply but instead managed to lift Cisco his arms and carry him back to the van. Harry was grateful he hadn’t bothered to shut the van door when he reached it and managed to manoeuvre Cisco into the passenger seat. When he got back to he labs, Harry carried Cisco to the bed in the med bay and Caitlin was imediately buzzing around Cisco to take care of him. She lifted his “ _awesome_image.jpg“_ to asses and treat any burns obtained from the meta-human and Harry decided to leave and find something to distract himself with. He barely made it through the Cortex when a stream of electricity alerted him and Iris of Barry’s arrival.

   ‘Hey, guys, sorry I’m— What happened?’ He asked quickly after assessing the situation and feeling the energy of the room. Harry is a second away from yelling but Iris beats him to it.

   ‘Where the hell were you?!’ She exclaimed, storming towards Barry. ‘We’ve been calling you for the past hour, why haven’t you been answering your phone?!”

   ‘My phone? You haven’t been—’ he grabs his back pocket and then switches to searching all of his other pockets, eventually resorting to speed-checking his clothes with a rush of electricity. ‘ _Fuck_.’ Was all he could think to say when he turns to once again face Iris.

   ‘We have a new speedster on the loose, she goes by Bolt.’ Iris’ voice was calm but there was still an edge to it. ‘Cisco went in after her and he almost had her, too, until she pulled some invisibility stunt. She shocked him, stopped his heart.’ The anxiety had returned to her voice but she stopped Barry from racing up to his friend. ‘He’s alright now, thanks to Harry.’ She nods to Harry and sends him a kind but still sad smile. ‘Sorry for slapping you, by the way.’ She tagged on.

   ‘Don’t be.’ He replied gruffly but didn’t return the smile.

   ‘Wait what?’ Barry near-exclaimed, a kind of humour finding his voice and Iris couldn’t stop the admiration that filled her smile when she looked at Barry. Harry decided this was his moment to leave and so he made his way down to the workshop.

   After a couple of hours, Harry gave up on trying to distract himself from his worry. When he went back up to the Cortex, Barry and Iris were nowhere to be found, but Caitlin was still hovering around the monitors.

   ‘Oh, Harry.’ She commented when she noticed his arrival. ‘Barry and Iris left a couple of minutes ago, we didn’t make any progress on finding Bolt but they decided they should at least go look for Barry’s phone at CCPD.’ She said but they both knew that’s not what he cared about right then. ‘Cisco is stable, I treated any wounds, he’s just going to need a lot of rest.’ Caitlin finally said and Harry noticed that she looked tired, between anxiously fretting over her friend, over not being able to find Barry, and then not being able to find the new speedster, who wouldn’t be exhausted? ‘He should wake up in a few hours, probably in the morning, and I know he’ll be okay, but I can’t seem to bring myself to stop worrying, you know?’ She laughed weakly, and, yeah, he does know.

   ‘Go home, Snow. Get some rest. You’ll be more help if you’re well rested and have a clear head. I’ll watch over him, I do technically live here after all.’ He offered her. Caitlin looked hesitant but finally decided he was right.

   ‘Okay, but I’ll be back early tomorrow morning.’ She assured him and Harry nodded. She was always there early. ‘Do you think you could tell me at all what happened earlier today, though?’ She asked. Harry frowned, he hadn’t thought about it since Iris had lectured him. It felt like it had happened years ago when, in reality, it was barely 3 hours ago.

   ‘No.’ Was all Harry said. Caitlin nodded in understanding. Caitlin took a while to collect her things, still seeming apprehensive to leave, but once she had left Harry took a seat next to Cisco. ‘I’m sorry.’ He whispered, reaching his hand out to place it over Cisco’s. He didn’t know what else to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t like this pairing much at first and now im writing angty shit about it how did that happen. Y’all, im gonna need some motivation if im gonna keep updating this bc, while i like the ideas i have for it so far, i don’t remember the last time i actually finished a story lol.
> 
> Im so bad at writing dialogue!! Oh god help!!
> 
> Just for this chapter alone i had to research shit about getting electrocuted and CPR o geez.
> 
> Um anyway enjoy, bye.


	2. 3:14am

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW// anxiety, description of anxiety/panic attack

   The first thing Harry noticed when he woke up was that his neck hurt, like, a lot. The second thing he noticed was that he was still sitting in a chair in the med bay. He opened his eyes and raised a hand to rub the ache in his neck, providing little relief. It was 3:14am and Harry wasn’t sure what time he’d fallen alseep but his hand was still lying on top of the hand of the boy next to him.

   Harry’s heart ached when he remembered the yell of pain he’d heard only a few hours prior and suddenly the pain in his neck didn’t feel so bad. His eyes scanned Cisco’s face and he wondered how Cisco could manage to look so peaceful at a time like this. He didn’t know how long he’d be staring when Cisco began to stir. Harry sat up straighter, becoming more alert when Cisco groaned quietly and raised his hand to rub at his eye. The movement was slow and lazy and drew all of Harry’s focus. When Cisco finally opened his eyes he took a moment to examin the dimly lit, white details of the med bay, the patterns littered across the roof, and finally his eyes reached Harry.

   ‘Harry?’ He whispered, voice hoarse and probably sore. ‘What happened?’ Harry stood from where he had been sitting and made his way to the cupboards on the other side of the room.

   ‘You uh— You went after a new meta on your own - she’s calling herself Bolt,’ Harry began as he found a water bottle and a straw. ‘She’s a speedster and she, well, she stopped your heart. We couldn’t get a hold of Allen. The idiot managed to lose his phone, apparently.’ Cisco drank some of the water to relive his sore throat while Harry spoke. He seemed to recall the event eventually as one of his hands subconsciously moved to rest above his chest where the burns from the speedster’s hands had formed. A solemn, confused look passed over his face then.

   ‘Wait, if Barry was MIA, then how did i get here? And why is my heart not stopped? Oh my god, I don’t have like a robotic heart or something, do I? That would be simultaneously the coolest and most terrifying thing to happen to me.’ While Cisco rambled about the possibility of having a metal heart, Harry wondered to himself how on Earth-2 anyone could have so much to say after literally dying.

   ‘Ramon, you have super powers that allow you to travel through the multiverse, and yet you believe having a robotic heart would be the coolest thing to happen to you?’ Despite himself, Harry smiled minutely at the notion. Cisco found himself caught off guard by the smile as it was rarely something he saw. Entranced, he also smiled softly to himself. Harry once again made his way to the seat next to the bed. Cisco considered that he should probably be more concerned about his own physical state but he decided dwelling on the pain in his back and chest, or the anxiety steadily building in his chest at the thought of another speedster being in town, wasn’t nearly as fun as thinking about having a robotic heart. Still, something weighed on his mind.

   ‘Fair point. But for real, how did I—’ _Get away? Get back here? Survive?_ It suddenly didn’t matter what he was going to ask when he saw the way Harry’s face changed. The way that his eyes found the floor, a crease forming between his eyebrows, the worry Cisco had only even seen him exhibit when it was about Jesse, the cracks in his emotionless façade, they showed Cisco all he needed to know. ‘ _You?_ ’ Was all Cisco managed to ask at first. Harry’s eyes stayed trained on the ground as his Adam’s apple bobbed. ‘You saved me?’ It was barely heard but Harry raised his head and grabbed the glasses that he didn’t remember leaving on the table.

   ‘Of course I did, you idiot.’ He spoke with a cynical and anxious kind of smile still playing on his lips.

   ‘Everyone’s an idiot to you, aren’t they?’ Cisco teased, changing the topic as the conversation had begun to develop too many emotions for his liking.

   ‘Yes.’ Harry replied, his tone entirely serious. Cisco laughed at this before attempting to make himself more comfortable under the thin, white sheets. He stared up at the roof, trying to remember more details about the fight. He was sure there was something he needed to remeber. ‘Ramon, regarding yesterday—’ Harry began but cut himself off when he realised Cisco wasn’t paying attention, apparently lost in thought. Suddenly, Cisco sat up with a speed that made Harry worry he would get whiplash. ‘If you hadn’t noticed, you’re supposed to be resting. Snow will have both of our heads if you manage to hurt yourself.’ Harry reprimanded, placing a steadying hand on the other’s shoulder. Cisco seemed to relax into the touch but there was still a kind of urgency in his eyes and a heaviness in his breath that wasn’t there a second ago.

  
   ‘The speedster — Bolt — she was talking to someone through coms. She was asking if she should “bring me in” or something.’ There was a shake to Cisco’s voice now as well as an unsettled edge and so Harry left his hand where it was and began rubbing small circles on Cisco’s shoulder in a way that he hoped was comforting. It was something he used to do to help Jesse when she was younger and would have nightmares after her mother passed away. It didn’t look to be helping much, however. ‘She knew who I was, Harry.’ He spoke barely above a whisper. Cisco could feel his breathing pick up and the heart monitor nearby did the same but it sounded distant, like he was listening to it from behind a brick wall. He felt the goosebumps arise on his skin but his blood ran warm — too warm — everything was too warm, and his mind had clouded over, along with the edges of his vision.

   ‘First of all, calm down. It’s not going to help anything if you have a panic attack.’ Cisco could barely hear Harry’s words. ‘Ramon, listen to me. You need to breath.’ Cisco forced himself to nod in response and squeezed his eyes shut, dragging a suddenly-heavy, shaking hand down his face. He took three steadying breaths before opening his eyes again. The anxiety was still there, as present as ever, writhing in his gut and under his skin, but his breathing was evening out, and there was a pressure rubbing patterns on his shoulder, and there was Harry’s voice mumbling some form of reassurances. ‘Secondly,’ Harry spoke again once he had given Cisco time to calm down, ‘you need to get some sleep. We’ll find Bolt in the morning when the rest of the team is here.’

   Cisco felt like arguing but ultimately gave in, realising just how tired he was, though he wasn’t sure how much sleep he would manage to get with his heart still pumping pure anxiety throughout his bloodstream. He lay back down and got as comfortable as physically possible in the med bay bed. Harry stood to leave, removing his hand from where it had still been perched on the other’s shoulder and Cisco imediatley missed the warm pressure. He saw that Harry was about to leave and, for some inexplicable reason, his anxiety spiked, causing him to grab Harry’s hand while it was still in reach.

   ‘Harry wait—’ he called, unsure. Harry turned back looking unimpressed and tired. He hummed quietly to signal for Cisco to continue talking. ‘Could you stay?’ Cisco asked meekly, feeling a little embarrassed, and a little like a child asking for reassurance after a nightmare. ‘Just for a little bit?’ Cisco added. Harry rolled his eyes but that odd kind of smile from earlier had returned and so he sat back down. Cisco relaxed again and Harry left his hand laying on top of Cisco’s as it had been earlier that night. ‘Goodnight, Harry.’ Cisco said quietly.

   ‘Goodnight, Cisco.’ Harry replied, just as quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This i a rly short filler kind of chapter bc of new years and my bday and stuff and because it’s my birthday and i will write a short fluff piece if i want to.
> 
> Anyway, happy new year!! i wish for 2018 to treat you all as you deserve.
> 
> i keep changing the description for the story bc im bad at descriptions rip.


	3. Brunch

  
   ‘Harry? Hey, wake up.’ Harry could feel someone shaking his shoulder before he processed Snow’s voice. His head was in his arms and his back was hunched over in a less-than-comfortable fashion. He sat up and took into account that he must’ve fallen asleep in the med bay yet again, slouched against the side of the bed. Harry raised his hand to lower the glasses that had found their way into his hairline before finally acknowledging Snow who was stood apprehensively by the end of the bed and holding out what appeared to be a heat pack. ‘I thought you might need this.’ She offered and Harry eyed it skeptically.

   ‘And why would that be?’ He muttered, voice dry. He moved to sit up straighter and felt a pain run through his back and neck, paired by a series of cracks. ‘Oh.’ He followed up to his own question, taking the heatpack from Snow’s hands and placed it over one shoulder where the pain felt most prominent and his neck felt most stiff. He thanked Snow and wondered how long she had been at the labs seeing as she’d taken the time to find and heat up the pack.

   ‘Were you here all night?’ Snow questioned, grabbing Cisco’s nearly empty water bottle from earlier in the night in order to replace it with fresh, cold water.

   ‘No.’ Harry lied. ‘Came to get some water during the night and Ramon woke up around the same time. I must’ve fallen asleep while still here.’ His sentences were more mumbled than usual and probably didn’t make as much sense as he wanted them to but Snow didn’t seem to notice, or if she had then she didn’t care as she buzzed around the room checking and altering things.

   ‘I’ll take it you haven’t eaten yet?’ She assumed as she typed something into one of the med bay monitors. ‘I’m really craving a muffin from Jitter’s if you want to join me. I would’ve gotten something before coming here but I wanted to check on Cisco.’ She had made her way to the still-sleeping boy while she was talking and was now examining the visible bruises. Harry considered her offer and then considered the emptiness in his stomach, finally agreeing. He elected to go downstairs and get ready for the day while Snow finished with tasks it was she had to do before they left.

   By time they had returned to the labs, Barry and Iris were in the Cortex with Cisco who was awake and slipping on an ‘ _Otter Space_ ’ shirt that Barry must’ve grabbed from Cisco’s apartment on the way to the labs.

   ’Hey!’ Caitlin yelled upon seeing Cisco in the Cortex. ‘What do you think you’re doing out of bed, mister.’ She chided, dropping her bag on a chair and grabbing her small light to check his pupil’s reactions.

   ‘Caity, please, I feel fine.’ He laughed, pushing her hand away.

   ‘Um, you were thrown 5 feet through the air like a rag doll and electrocuted. I think I’ll be the one to decide if you’re fine.’ She tried to enforce but instead Cisco gave her a kind of look that she understood as “ _you’re being ridiculous and over-protective._ ” In turn, she fixed him with a look that he knew to mean “ _but you know I’m right._ ” They stared at each other with increasing intensity as the seconds ticked by until Caitlin finally gave in with a sigh, an eye roll, and an exasperated ‘Fine.’ Caitlin slipped the light into her pocket and turned to face Barry and Iris. ‘Any luck finding your phone?’ She directed to Barry who went from looking amused to looking a bit like a kicked puppy.

   ‘No luck. Someone must’ve taken it, too, because when we tried to track it the signal was jammed.’ He offered and Caitlin sighed in return.

   ‘Maybe the person who sent Bolt after me took your phone. Y’know, like, they didn’t want the flash getting in the way and whatever. Bolt knew who I was, it’s barely a hop, jump, and a sprint from there to finding out who you are.’ Cisco supplied. Barry took a seat and rubbed his temple with his hand.

   ‘And even if they didn’t know, they will do by now.’ Iris spoke, rubbing Barry’s shoulder in an act of condolence.

   ‘Great, so we have a speedster who is taking orders from someone who knows you you are,’ Barry guesture to Cisco, ‘probably knows who I am,’ He guesture to himself, ‘who has my phone,’ he motioned to his empty pocket, ‘and who we know literally nothing about.’ He finished, fiddling with his wedding band anxiously. ‘So how do we find this person if we can’t even find Bolt?’

   ‘Um, hello? Your own personal pyschic over here?’ Cisco spoke in a sing-song voice and guestured to himself.

   ‘Oh, no you don’t.’ Caitlin stepped in. ‘You might think you’re fine but I’m not going to let you exert yourself. We’ll find them another way.’ She decided. Cisco just looked at her like she’d told a funny joke which she resented.

   ‘Exert myself?’ He laughed, pushing a strand of hair behind his ear. ‘I’m barely exerting myself.’ And, as if on cue, as soon as the words had left his mouth, Cisco stumbled, barely managing to catch himself on Harry who had moved forward just in time to help Cisco into a nearby chair.

   ‘What were you saying, Ramon?’ He questioned, taking Caitlin’s side in the argument. He didn’t move his hand from where it had once again found purchase on Cisco’s shoulder.

   ‘That was just because I haven’t eaten yet.’ Cisco defended upon seeing his friend’s concerned faces.

   ‘Just another reason why you shouldn’t be doing this.’ Caitlin insisted. ‘Besides, what would you even vibe from? We have nothing.’

   ‘Okay, I’ve thought about this and I think I have an idea.’ He rolled up his shirt to expose the two gauze bandages situated near his ribs. ‘What if I use the burns.’ He suggested and Caitlin raised her hands to rub her face.

   ‘I swear you’re going to send me to an early grave.’ She spoke into her hands. She lifted her head to look at her friend. ‘You’re not doing it.’ She tried again, her voice having less conviction. She looked to Barry and Iris for help but Iris only raised her hands in defence, not wanting to get involved.

   ‘I think if he wants to try we should let him try.’ Barry said and Caitlin looked as though she had entirely given up.

   ‘Thank you.’ Cisco said, raising a hand to Barry. ‘At least someone believes in me.’ He joked as he removed the gauze. Now revealed was two red, hand-shaped burns. Cisco placed his own hands over the burns and closed his eyes, channeling the engergies from them.

   As if there was a malfunction in the universe, the space around Cisco began to flicker and shift. He focused on Bolt and focused on her talking into the earpiece, trying to picture the voice on the other end, a face speaking to her from somewhere other than the empty street. Through the blue haze of this world surrounding him, Cisco saw a prominent blue-purple streak of lightning flit through the air. He willed himself to follow it, seeming to move in slow motion and at super speed simultaneously. The buildings all blended together until all he could make out were shapes of different shades of blue. Then suddenly everything stopped. Cisco could feel the vibe trying to collapse, the real world flickering into the blue haze, but he willed himself to hold on a bit longer. He appeared to be in a large warehouse with tables, chairs, and monitors, as well as two sofas and a matteress littered around into some kind of make-shift living and workspace. There was someone — a man — sitting at one of the tables, hunched over a monitor with an oddly familiar posture. Something compelled Cisco to move forward to where this man was sat. He was having trouble remembering just why he was here but something kept pushing him forwards. Cisco reached out a hand towards the man who was now in front of him. There was a pounding beginning to form in his head as he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder.

   ’Ah, you’re back.’ The man spoke, turning around. Cisco took a large intake of breath, paired with an even large step away from the man. He saw Bolt standing where he himself had been seconds ago and, as he let himself be pulled out of the vibe, he found himself staring into the face of Harrison Wells.

   When Cisco returned to reality, his senses came back one by one. First, he felt a hand resting on his shoulder, next he heared shuffling near by, and finally he took in the sight of his friends standing around the Cortex. Still shaken by the vision, Cisco glanced from the hand on his shoulder and up to the man with a face identical to the one he had just seen. Without thinking, Cisco bolted from his chair, shoving Harry’s hand from his shoulder and taking a large inhale of breath in through his nose. He felt the eyes of everyone in the room pressing into him and suddenly everything felt too heavy, and too warm, and too much. Cisco dared to glance at the concerned looks on his friends faces, and then gave a once over to Harry who had adapted a look of confusion and worry. Finally, he bolted from the room without saying a word. He heard Caitlin call after him but he just kept moving. He went to his workshop out of instinct and moved as far and as fast as his legs would carry him before giving out, allowing him to fall against the wall of his workshop.

   Cisco wasn’t sure sure how long he’d been sitting on the floor for until Caitlin walked in. She spotted her friend and opted for joining him on the floor and sitting in front of him.

   ‘So, do you want to talk about what happened?’ She questioned, picking at a lost screw that must’ve fallen onto the floor at some point. ‘I haven’t seen you look at Harry like that since the first time he came here two years ago.’ Caitlin noted, eyes travelling from the floor back up to Cisco’s face as if she would be able to find the answers in his eyes alone. Cisco swallowed thickly and thought.

   ‘In my vibe I saw—’ He began after a moment. He paused to gather his thoughts into a coherent sentence. ‘I saw Thawne.’ Caitlin exhaled a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding and subtly pinched her wrist to keep herself in check. ‘He was wearing Dr. Well’s face so when I—’ He could feel his breathing begin to pick up and heard his own voice rise and so Cisco forced himself to take a deep breath and slow down. ‘—When I saw Harry my head was still a bit cloudy and I just freaked I guess.’ He explained and Caitlin nodded, understanding.

   ‘We’re going to stop Thawne, okay? Whatever he’s planning we’ll be one step ahead of him this time.’ Caitlin reassured, leaning forward to place her hand over Cisco’s and he offered her a sad smile in return. ‘You didn’t happen to see where he was, did you?’ She asked but Cisco shook his head.

   ‘Just that he was in a warehouse of some kind. It looked like he’d been living and working there for a little while.’

   ‘How many abandoned warehouses could there be in Central City?’ Caitlin joked. ‘But you know,’ she spoke more quietly now and with a serious but soft kind of tone, ‘that Wells in the other room. It’s just Harry — our Harry. Our rude, brash, asshole Harry who cares about us and who, while he won’t admit it, definitely spent the night in the medbay making sure you were alright.’ She finisned with a kind, sincere smile to which Cisco reciprocated, grateful for a friend like Caitlin.

   ‘I know.’ He whispered. Suddenly Caitlin was on her feet and had taken Cisco’s hand in hers in order to drag him up with her.

   ‘Now let’s get some food in you, mister.’ She decided as she draped an arm over Cisco’s shoulder.

   ‘What about the others?’ He questioned, positioning his arm around her waist in return. It’s not that he needed support, it was more so just that it had been a while since the two had been so close.

   ‘I’ll talk to them later.’ She ensured. ‘But right now you need something to eat if you’re going to help us kick Thawne’s butt.’ She went to poke Cisco’s stomach and he laughed into her shoulder as he pushed her hand away.

   ‘Did I just get permission from _the_ Caitlin Snow to kick someone’s butt?’ Cisco fake gasped as the pair made their way to the elevators.

   ‘You’ll be kicking butt whether you have my permission or not.’ Caitlin countered as she moved forward to press the elevator button.

   ‘Don’t you know it.’ Cisco agreed when the elevator arrived.

   It was mid afternoon when the pair finally made their way back to the labs after ending up spending the day together. At some point during brunch, Caitlin excused herself to call Barry and relay to him what Cisco had told her about Thawne. Barry was silent for a beat before bursting into shouts of outrage and Caitlin had to pull the phone away from her ear in order to protect her hearing. She could hear Joe talking in the background now too and assumed that the two must’ve been at CCPD. She hung up he phone after Barry said something about going back to the labs later that day. After having something to eat, Cisco was feeling a lot better, both physically and mentally, but there was still a foreign kind of unease that had found a home in the marrow of his bones, and it neighboured an intense thrumming in his chest that he couldn’t remember being there before. Caitlin affirmed that it was most likely just anxiety and so he took her word for it.

   They had arrived at the labs sometime around 2pm to find Barry and Iris in the far corner of the Cortex, half discussing something, half using the monitor next to them, and Harry standing, leaning over one of the monitors at the main consol.

   ‘How gracious of you two to join us.’ Harry spoke without taking his eyes off of the screen in front of him. ‘Hope you enjoyed your . . . Brunch.’ His familiar cynical tone filled his voice and Cisco let himself smile softly in amusement.

   ‘I never understood brunch.’ Barry thought loudly, cutting off his conversation with Iris. ‘Like, what is brunch? I mean, you wait in line for an hour for, essentially, lunch.’

   ‘Bro . . .’ Cisco replied, faux-disappointment filling his voice. ‘Brunch isn’t a food, it’s a feeling.’ He remarked dramatically, placing a hand over his chest. ‘But anyway, what progress have we made so far?’ He asked.

   ‘ _Oh!_ ’ Barry said loudly as he spun around to type on the keyboard next to himself. ‘We’ve narrowed it down to six abandoned warehouses in Central City and two just passed the city border. We’re using the satalite to try and track Thawne or Bolt’s speedforce signatures. Speaking of which, who is this Bolt person? Since when does Thawne need someone to do his dirty work for him?’ Barry questioned, turning to face Cisco as if he had the answer. Caitlin had moved further into the room to closer examin the images Barry had displayed on the monitor while Cisco made his way to a seat at the main consol.

   ‘No clue.’ Cisco shrugged. ‘I guess we’ll find out sooner or later, though.’ Everyone seemed to go back to their work after that but Cisco could feel the way Harry was looking at him, his gaze seeming to burn into his skin. it wasn’t often that Cisco could feel other people’s emotions but, when he did, they got inside his mind and it was sometimes hard to differentiate between his own feelings and another’s. Now he was experiencing a strange concoction of worry, curiousity, and a small sense of anxiety that was battling a newfound guilt. He assumed he anxiety was his own as it had been trying to tear a hole through him for almost the entirety of the day. The guilt seemed to swirl inside of him next to a kind of discomfort and he figured those were his own too. The last thing he wanted was for people to worry, be it about him or about Thawne it didn’t matter, the feeling didn’t help anything, especially when it was causing a cocktail of unpleasant feelings in his mind. Cisco tried to push it down and focus on the screen in front of his face but quickly gave up with a quiet sigh. ‘Yo,’ he said quietly, eyes moving from where they had situated on the keyboard to find Harry’s face. ‘Sorry for freaking out on you before. I know you’re not—’ he broke off his sentence and pushed a fallen strand of hair behind his ear. ‘My mind was just a bit clouded was all.’ He settled on.

   ‘Forget it.’ Was Harry’s way of saying it was fine but Cisco felt an unfamiliar pang of hurt hit his chest. The feeling was washed away before he could dwell on it for too long, though. ‘And, Ramon—’ Harry tried, af if he’d just remembered something. However, a yell from Barry interrupted his train of thought.

   ‘I think we’ve got something!’ Barry said excitedly from across the room. Highlighted on the map on one of the monitors were yellow-green pixels surrounding one of the warehouses past the borders of the city, indicating a speedforce signature. ‘We’re going to need a plan on taking down Thawne and Bolt but I think we’ll definitely need some more of that serum that we used to slow down Zoom.’ Barry decided.

   ‘We can get working on that right away, can’t we?’ Caitlin spoke, directing her words towards Cisco and Harry.

   ‘Guys, for the first time, we are a step ahead of Thawne.’ He sounded elated as he echoed Caitlin’s words from that morning. However, something within Cisco wasn’t quite as sure of the words. Something felt off but he couldn’t manage to put a finger on what. He wasn’t able to think about it, though, as a wave of nausea hit him, sending a chill through his body and causing a slight fever to arise on his head. He decided it must’ve been something from brunch that disagreed with him, or perhaps just eating too much too fast, but he took the moment to close his eyes and place his head in his hands, elbows resting on the desk for support. The feeling passed after a few moments but he could feel Harry’s eyes watching him once again and the irritating kind of worry settled in his gut once more.

   It was pretty late by time Caitlin decided to call it a night. Usually, making the serum wouldn’t take so long but the three of them had decided to modify it in order to hopefully imobolise the speedsters for a period of time rather than just slow them down. A few minutes after Caitlin had left, Cisco let out a yawn and vocalised that he should probably get home as well.

   ‘I’m not sure it’s wise for you to be driving right now.’ Harry informed as he helped Cisco to put equipment away.

   ‘What are you talking about? I’m fine.’ Cisco muttered and Harry blatantly rolled his eyes in response.

   ‘Ramon, you have been stumbling over your own feet all day and your hands have been shaking intermittently for the past two hours. Just let me drive you home so that you don’t accidentally kill someone.’ He offered. He sounded bored, like he’d already won the discussion which irked Cisco.

   ‘ _I’m fine_.’ He pressed. ‘I haven’t been _stumbling_.’ He emphasised the word to showcase its stupidity but convenietly stumbled as he reached to grab something from the desk, catching himself on the surface. ‘That wasn’t a stumble, the chair was in my way.’ He defended. Cisco glanced up to see a look on Harry’s face that read as both “ _I told you so”_ and _“seriously?”_. Cisco dropped his defence as he stood upright and shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘Fine.’ He grumbled, feeling a bit like a bratty child. Once they’d tidied up and Cisco had grabbed his things, Harry fished the van keys out of his pocket and the pair headed out to the parking lot.

   The ride to Cisco’s apartment was quiet. He couldn’t count how many times he’d driven down these same, old roads to the same, old, brick building, but being driven by someone else had a different feeling. He wasn’t focusing on the road but instead on the way the buildings breezed past, and the way his skin flickered in and out of the orange glow of the ever-passing streetlights. The night sky was clear and calm and Cisco’s eyes scanned the black canvas for white balls of fire that he recognised while the radio hummed a quiet tune that blended with the soft hum of the vehicle. There was always something special about driving at night, he thought. Something safe, and comforting, and mysterious, and something about the way Harry’s eyes stared into the night, the way his hands fit around the steering wheel, the way he would purse his lips every time he was tempted to hum along to the radio, it added to the security of the atmosphere. It felt right. Cisco let his eyes drift shut for a few moments, to soak in the feeling of the night. Between the hussle and bussle of flash work, and the endless worlds and visions clashing in his mind, it was rare that he felt this at peace. Before he knew it, the car had come to a steady stop and Cisco opened his eyes to take in the sight of building beside him. The old, eroding, red bricks that seemed to be covered in vines, and the various dark stains that covered the wall under pipes and people’s balconies. He could see Mrs. Kotowski’s black and white cat was resting on his fire escape on the fourth floor next to his wilted flowers and their cracked pots.

   Cisco undid his seatbelt and exited the van and Harry did the same, walking around to the back of the van to open the doors and grab Cisco’s backpack for him. Cisco wanted to say something about how he could’ve gotten the bag himself or how Harry can just go and that he disn’t have to walk Cisco inside. Instead, he just smiled tiredly, took the backpack and said;

   ‘Thanks.’

   Harry returned the smile and Cisco noticed that it, too, looked tired. The sound of Harry shutting the van doors sent a ripple through the silence that was the night. The calmness wasn’t broken for long as the quiet quickly enveloped them again, save for a soft breeze that rustled through the nearby trees. The two walked towards the bronze, rusted gate that lead to the wooden door of the building.

   ‘You know, I keep meaning to say—’ Harry began, catching Cisco’s attention before he had the chance to put his PIN number into the panel next to the gate. ‘About what I said—’ He continued but suddenly the soft breeze grazing them had become a strong wind that fully enveloped the two men. The breeze was filled with static electricity and a red trail of lightning ran through it. Before either of them had realised it, a man in a yellow suit was stood before them. The figure lowered his cowl and Harry sucked in a sharp breath to see his own face staring back at him. The man’s gaze shifted to look down at Cisco and there was the ghost of a smile on his lips.

   ‘Long time no see, _Cisco_.’ Thawne said with a hint of joy in his voice.

   ‘ _Thawne_.’ Cisco growled low. Some sort of protective instinct willed Harry to step forward, pushing Cisco behind himself to create distance between him and the speedster.

   ‘What the hell do you want?’ Harry demanded and Thawne had the nerve the look amused, cocking his his head to the side. There was a sharp flash of lightening and suddenly Harry found himself pinned by his throat to the bricks of the building. He heard Cisco yell his name from somewhere beneath the ringing in his ears.

   ‘I have no quarrel with you, doppelgänger. So why don’t you be quiet while Cisco and I do a little catching up?’ He suggested darkly, the smile never leaving his lips.

   ‘Let him go,’ Cisco ordered and Harry saw that he had raised his palms to the speedster. ‘Or I shoot.’ He threatened. Harry tried to dig his phone from his pocket while Thawne was distracted.

   ‘That’s cute.’ Thawne remarked, attention now turned to Cisco. ‘Try it, why don’t you?’ He offered in a pseudo-kind voice. Cisco attempted to fire a blast at Thawne but nothing happened. He looked down at his hands, confused, and then tried again but still to no avail. Harry managed to press the panic button on his phone to alert Barry while Thawne merely laughed at Cisco’s attempts. ‘Don’t you see?’ He asked. ‘You’re sick.’ He laughed again and within a second there had been another flash of lightning. Harry felt his feet hit solid ground and he rubbed his neck as he caught his breath. Cisco and Thawne were gone. There was another streak of lightening — this time yellow — and Barry stood in front of Harry, alert and scanning the area.

   ‘Thawne—’ Harry breathed out. ‘He took Cisco.’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> errr ur welcome
> 
> rly i should just rename this ‘cisco can’t catch a break and harry can’t stop getting interrupted’ by fall out boy
> 
> i edited this chapter at 4:30 - 5am so there’s probs a lot of mistakes still


	4. DNA

 

   Cisco felt his feet hit solid ground and instantly recognised the room from his vibe. He was in a cell not dissimilar to the ones Zoom had kept Barry and Jay in. Glass surrounded him on the left and in front of him, brick wall to the right and behind. On the other side of the glass, Bolt was sitting near a couple of monitors not paying him any attention. She wasn’t wearing her suit but instead a plain pair of black, distressed jeans and a red shirt that hung off of one shoulder, and finally glasses with black frames. He turned his head to face Thawne who was standing in front of the glass, his hands behind his back and a satisfied smile on his face. Not his face. Rather, the face of a man who died many years ago.

   Cisco stared back for a moment before he himself began to smile. And then Cisco started to laugh. Thawne was unwavered but Bolt turned around, curious as to the sudden outburst.

   ‘Man, you’ve really lost your touch, haven’t you?’ Cisco accused, the grin never leaving his face. He took deliberate steps towards the glass — towards Thawne. ‘You’ve already failed. You know that, right? The team already know where you are. _Hell_ , Barry’s probably already here.’ Cisco placed his arms on the glass and leaned forward, almost uncomfortably close to where Thawne was standing on the other side. He laughed in the face of danger, quite literally, but still, Thawne remained uneffected.

   ‘Oh, Cisco,’ Thawne cooed, false affection lacing his voice that made every nerve in Cisco cringe. ‘Shouldn’t you know by now that I always take precautions. Any lead your little team thinks they have will only get them so far.’ He taunted, never moving from where he stood. ‘Trust me, they won’t find you until after I have procured what I need.’ Bolt seemed to lose interest at this point, pushing her glasses up on her nose and returning her attention to the monitors.

   ‘And what exactly do you need?’ Cisco questioned. In response, Thawne’s smile grew into a smirk. Cisco huffed our a breath that was a mixture of irritation and anxiety.

   ‘Only one thing. Something quite simple, really.’ Thawne stalled, taking a calculated step towards the glass so that his yellow boots very nearly touched it. Cisco, who had still been leaning against the glass, took this opportunity to move back, dropping his arms to cross over his chest. ‘I need . . .’ Thawne paused and Cisco rolled his eyes at the theatrics. ‘—Your powers.’ 

   ‘ _Excuse me?_ ’ Cisco demanded as if Thawne had requested he remove his arm and hand it to him, and in a way he had.

   ‘You heard me.’ Thawne said, his tone growing ever so slightly darker, and Cisco could feel him becoming impatient. ‘I need your powers. Did you honestly think I would let someone like _you_ have powers like _this_? No, Cisco. I needed someone who would be able to grow and develop them until the time was right for me to come and collect what was rightfully mine.’ Thawne’s voice had steadily grown louder and, despite Cisco’s legs urging him to back away again, he stood his ground, not allowing Thawne to acknowledge the fear that had begun to run through his body, causing goosebumps to arise on his arms. ‘Powers like this deserve to be owned by someone who will use them to their full potential. Someone like me.’ Thawne summarised.

   ‘How exactly are you planning on doing that?’ Cisco questioned, forcing himself to keep his voice level and letting his anger override his fear. ‘Last time I checked, it’s a part of my DNA.’ A grim smile found his lips again in spite of himself.

   ‘As I’ve already said, you’re sick.’ Thawne said as if it explained everything. ‘When you bumped heads with Salina here, she injected you with a special little formula of my own creation. It needed activating, however, but you did just that when you vibed me this morning, didn’t you?’ Cisco sucked in a shaky breath as things clicked into place. It was once he began discussing vibing Bolt that he first started to feel sick, the initial preparation to use his powers was ultimately the beginning of the formula coming into effect. ‘You played right into my hands once again, didn’t you?’ Thawne smiled and Cisco glared off to the side, unable to meet the speedster’s gaze. ‘And now that formula is coursing through your veins, slowly dividing your meta-human DNA from the rest of your DNA.’ Thawne began to walk towards what appeared to be a staircase. ‘I’ll be back to collect in due time.’ He called before finally speeding off.

   Cisco watched after the direction that Thawne had gone when suddenly there was a tickle in the bad of his throat. Within a minute he was completely racked by a fit of coughs. Cisco felt something claw it’s way up his throat. For a moment he was afraid he was going to be sick but then something flew into his palm and the coughs died down. Cisco stared down at his palm to where a bright, glowing, blue substance now sat.

   ‘What the hell?’ He whispered to himself. Bolt — or Salina — remained at her monitor, uneffected. Whether she hadn’t noticed or just didn’t care, Cisco wasn’t sure.

 

   ‘Everyone calm down!’ Barry called to the rest of the room who had somehow taken to arguing between each other, everyone in varying states of worry and tiredness. ‘We already know where Thawne is, I’ll be in and out with Cisco in seconds, plus we have the speed dampening drug if necessary, right, Harry?’ Harry, who had been staring at the floor in contemplation snapped out of his daze at the sound of his name, turning his attention to Barry.

   ‘Right.’ He confirmed. ‘The modifications haven’t been finished but it should be enough to slow him down.’ Harry spoke while he crossed the room to pluck the serum from where it was being held. ‘One other thing, Allen.’ He said as he pocketed the serum and made his way to where the pulse riffle was leaning against a wall. Barry hummed in response. ‘I’m coming with you.’ He decided, picking up the riffle.

   ‘Listen, Harry, with all due respect, I’m not sure if that’s the best idea—’ Barry cut his own sentence off when Harry fixed him with a bored and irritable expression. ‘Okay, sure, you’re coming with. No problem.’ Barry agreed, clapping his hands together once and shifting on his feet. ‘Okay then. Ready?’ He asked and Harry nodded. In a flash, the two were gone from the Cortex and instead were standing outside of a large, abandoned warehouse. ‘I’m going to scan the area.’ Barry said. He was back barely a second after he had left and there was disappointment written all over his face. ‘They’re not here.’ He explained. ‘There’s no sign anyobe has been here in years.’

   ‘Great. That’s just great.’ Harry expressed, running a stressed hand through his hair and glancing around at the empty feild around them as if there was a clue in the way that the overgrown grass swayed in the late-summernight breeze. There wasn’t. There was, however, a dirt road near the warehouse that lead out onto the main road. Harry made his way to the dirt and crouched beside it, examining the tracks left in the road. ‘Allen,’ Harry called out.

   ‘What is it? Did you find something?’ Barry asked as he made his way to Harry side, also crouching in order to examin the tire tracks. ‘They belong to a Ford F-150, regular cab, long bed. Thawne has been running here and then . . . Driving to the real location?’ Barry mused. He got out his phone and took some photos of the tracks.

   ‘He knew you would track his signature. He’s trying to keep us distracted to buy himself time.’ Harry thought aloud.

   ‘Buy himself time? To do what?’ Barry questioned.

   ‘I don’t know but we better figure it out quick.’ Harry stood and readjusted the riffle on his shoulder, walking back towards the warehouse. He and Barry searched the area to look for more clues but turn up empty handed.

 

   ‘So . . . Salina,’ Cisco spoke from where he was sitting in the cell on what he assumed to be a makeshift bed that consisted of two small mattresses on top of each other, a couple of blankets, and what appeared to be a sofa cushion. ‘Whatcha doing over there?’ He asked casually. Cisco wasn’t sure how long he had been there but the boredom was eating him alive. The weight of the situation hadn’t quite set in yet but he supposed that was for the best seeing as the last thing he needed was to have a panic attack when he didn’t have H— when he didn’t have someone around to help him through it.

   ‘I’m not supposed to talk to you.’ Salina replied hesitantly and Cisco saw her adjust her glasses slightly. Cisco leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his thighs and linking his hands together. He fixed her with a curious gaze and watched as Salina caustiously glanced at Cisco from the corner of her eye.

   ‘You’re scared of him.’ Cisco deduced which made Salina’s hands still on the keyboard.

   ‘I don’t know what you’re taking about.’ She defended but the shake in her voice had grown. She seemed like an entirely different person to who Cisco had fought in the empty street only the night before. She was also a lot younger than he had first thought and some part of her made him think of Jesse. Cisco pushed the thought away as soon as it arrived.

   ‘Who is he? To you, I mean.’ Cisco pressed. Salina removed her glasses and rubbed her forehead in a stressed guesture before placing them back on her face. She folded her hands on the desk and stared only at them.

   ‘Um,’ she thought for a minute. ‘It’s a bit complicated.’ She was stalling but Cisco chose not to press any further just yet. ‘I guess, he’s kind of like my father? In a way?’ She sounded unsure of herself and Cisco’s eyes widened in disbelief.

   ‘I can’t say I see the resemblance.’ Cisco muttered.

   ‘Well, I suppose I wasn’t . . . conceived in the most conventional way. I was made in a lab.’ She explained and something about the words made Cisco feel sick — or maybe that was just the drug? ‘He, er, never explained to me really why or how I was made — and, I guess, most days I don’t care to know — but I know he only used a small amount of his own DNA. Enough for us to be related in the typical sense, at least, and enough to pass on the meta-human gene. I can only assume he had to use someone else’s DNA because— oh.’ Salina seemed to realise that she had been rambling. Her voice had become so quiet while talking about this that Cisco could only assume it was something she had spent countless nights thinking about. He couldn’t imagine what it could be like to be created in a lab, constantly wondering what your purpose was, constantly fearing that you were expendable.

   ‘Because of what, Salina?’ Cisco pressed, trying to match the soft, quietness of her voice.

   ‘No.’ She said clearly and loudly. Cisco flinched at the sudden change of demeaner. ‘I shouldn’t have told you any of this, I shouldn’t even be talking to you.’ She sounded like she was berating herself more than Cisco and she had pushed away from the desk, the wooden legs of the chair scraping against the concrete floor. ‘Do not talk to me again.’ She turned to him for the first time that night and glared, raising a finger in warning. Cisco saw that her eyes were slightly bloodshot but he respected her wishes and didn’t say anything else. Cisco watched on in silent contemplation as Salina made her way to the staircase that Thawne had used earlier that night.

   Cisco shuffled back on the mattress and leaned again the wall behind him. He allowed his head to fall back against the cold bricks and his eyes drifted shut. For the first time, he allowed himself to soak in the situation, despite the way it caused his blood to run cold, and his skin to grow warm, or the way his heart picked up so slightly, causing his breath to match its pace. Cisco swallowed hard and took deep, steadying breaths, feeling the ghost of a hand on his shoulder. Despite knowing it was helpless, Cisco tried to tap into his powers. There was a tingle of static that seemed to fill the tips of his fingers, finding its way through his palms and up his arms, filing into his chest and making his head feel somewhat light. Cisco knew there wasn’t nearly enough energy to conjure a breach, or a blast, but there was the tug of a vibe and he thought that he could just reach it. Subconsciously, one of Cisco’s hands drifted up to rub at the back of his neck, before moving back down to twist in the fabric of his shirt that sat above his shoulder. Something pulled at Cisco and he pushed to follow it. It led him to S.T.A.R Labs, to the Cortex, to Harry leaning against a wall with his arms folded as Barry spoke. It was muffled but Cisco tried to focus on what Barry was saying. Something about a diversion, a car, he was talking to Joe, something about the CCPD, and they were leaving, and Cisco was leaving with them but he wasn’t following them. Then Cisco was standing behind Caitlin and Harry. They were working on the speed dampening serum but Caitlin was trying to convince Harry to get some rest. He refused and suddenly Caitlin was gone and it was just Cisco and Harry alone in the lab. Cisco reached a hand out to touch Harry’s shoulder. Harry looked up from his work, turning to look in Cisco’s direction but he looked right through him. Cisco watched as disappointment washed over Harry’s face when he turned back to his work and then Cisco was being pulled back into the real world.

   Any anxiety Cisco had been feeling previously was gone, replaced by a restless kind of calm, a painful kind of numbness. Cisco raised a hand to his face and then pulled it back to find his cheeks wet with tears he never felt fall. The tears looked to hold a very faint, blue glow, and Cisco had to squeeze his eyes shut as another wave of nausea hit him. He lay down on his side, trying to find comfort in the crummy bed as he shook wits a sudden coldness that seemed unnatural for the time of year.

 

   Cisco opened his eyes to find himself staring up at blinding, white lights. When his vision finally cleared he saw what looked to be the med bay at the labs. He tilted his head to see a figure sitting next to the bed. Thawne? No. Harry. Obviously Harry. Cisco reprimanded himself for thinking otherwise. He wondered what time it was, what day it was, and if everything with Thawne had really happened or if it was all a dream. Cisco considered the feel of he cotton sheets beside him, the smell of disinfectant in the air, the sound of the air conditioner lightly buzzing in the distance, the slight chill in the air. This must be real he decided, running a hand over the sheets again for confirmation.

   ‘Cisco, how are you feeling?’ Harry asked, noticing the movement from the boy before him. Cisco cracked a teasing grin, noticing how tired all of his muscles felt.

   ‘What? No calling me an idiot? No using my last name in that perpetually-annoyed tone? I think I should be the one asking how you’re feeling.’ He joked despite the ache in his throat. Harry leaned forward and smiled in a way that didn’t reach his eyes, in a way that caused goosebumps to prickle Cisco’s skin. Cisco found himself shuffling lightly away from where Harry was sat, something unsure settling in his stomach, but Harry didn’t seem to notice.

   ‘Just worried, I suppose.’ Harry responded and Cisco eyed him suspiciously. ‘How about we get you up so the rest of the team knows you’re alright.’ He suggested, standing and holding out a hand to Cisco who only narrowed his eyes at the hand before turning the opposite way to get out of the medical bed. Cisco found that he was wearing his ‘Otter-space’ shirt along with some grey sweatpants and it again made him wonder what day it was and what had and hadn’t happened. He figured everything would be explained when he got to the Cortex and so he followed Harry out of the room.

   A few hours after Cisco had left the med bay, he had fallen back into the routine of helping Barry fight some meta-human. Any questions he wanted to ask were lost from his mind as he bickered with Harry about the best way to help Barry. Eventually Harry sighed, running a hand over his face.

   ‘Fine, whatever. Truce?’ He questioned, holding out his hand. A stray, half-formed thought passed through Cisco’s mind which led him to only eye the hand cautiously and then ignore it

   ‘Truce.’ Cisco nodded then turned to make his way to a different monitor.

   Later that day, Cisco looked up from the project he was working on, confused as to just what he was doing. His memories kept slipping away and he couldn’t even remember when he moved to his workshop, let alone remember exactly what he was working on. Just like at every other point during the day, Harry seemed to be close by. Then again, that wasn’t necessarily unusual. He noticed Cisco had stopped working and fixed him with a questioning gaze.

   ‘Need a hand?’ Harry asked, holding out his hand as if to take the screw driver from Cisco. Cisco sat up straighter and moved his hands away, tilting his head as he considered Harry.

   ‘What is up with you today?’ Cisco questioned. ‘You’ve been acting so weird all day. Speaking of which, what day even is it? Why can’t I remember anything? Wait what’s even going on?’ The more questions he let slip the more seemed to want to spill out and he watched as Harry sighed, rubbing his temple.

   ‘I can see this isn’t working.’ He commented and Cisco was about to ask what he meant when suddenly he blinked and everything surrounding him changed.

   Cisco opened his eyes to find himself staring at dim, orange lights. When his vision finally cleared he saw the warehouse that he had been taken to the night earlier and found that he was sitting in a chair on the other side of the cell glass. He turned his head to see a figured standing in front of him. Harry? No. Thawne. Obviously Thawne. Cisco reprimanded himself for thinking otherwise but was swooped with a wave of déjà vu. His head pounded like he’d been pulled out of an extensive vibe.

   ‘You’re messing with my head?’ Cisco mumbled, feeling overrun with fatigue as he tried to keep his focus on Thawne who merely tutted.

   ‘Now, Cisco, don’t think of it as me trying to mess with your head. I’m only trying to persuade you to help me.’ He chided as he walked around the chair. There was nothing restraining Cisco but he knew he wouldn’t be able to fight Thawne in his current state.

   ‘Did you ever consider just asking for my help?’ Cisco tried to remark but any sort of sass fell short as another wave of nausea hit him, causing him to lean forward with a quiet groan, something that was beginning to be too much of a regular occurrence. Thawne came to stand in front of the chair again. He crouched and placed a hand on Cisco’s knee.

   ‘I suggest you stop wasting your energy. You’ll need it for when you give me your powers.’ Cisco glared at Thawne, determined to not let his words effect him.

   ‘In the dream— vibe— thing, you kept trying to touch my hand. Why?’ Cisco asked and Thawne smiled, patting Cisco’s knee and then standing up again.

   ‘Are you familiar with _Gravity Falls_?’ Thawne asked and Cisco was caught off gaurd by the question. ‘This Bill Cipher character requires someone to shake his hand in order to make a deal. This is much the same except you have to be actively using your powers when I take your hand in order for the transfer to work.’ He explained and Cisco smirked in response.

   ‘Then I just wont shake your hand.’

   ‘Oh, you will, trust me.’ Thawne informed as he phased Cisco back into the cell. ‘Oh and stop trying to get information but out of Salina.’ With the passing remark he left and Cisco felt  unidentifiable anger boil in his blood.

   ‘Get back here you speedy, yellow freak!’ He yelled after Thawne but even as the words left his mouth he didn’t know quite what he was yelling for. Did he want Thawne back so he could fight him? So he could find out more of his plan? So he could have some company? Any reason his brain spat at him seemed stupid which only fuled the anger that he couldn’t determine the origin of. It ripples through him and moved him to punch the glass before pulling back and wincing. ‘Bad idea.’ Cisco mumbled to himself. At least he wasn’t feeling nauseous anymore, he thought to himself with a defeated sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot thickens.  
> I didn’t know how to finish this chapter ha ha ha this is why ive never finished a chartered story (but im determined to finish this one bc i actually have stuff planned) but oooh salina amirite
> 
> im going back to school today so updates might slow down a little — or maybe they’ll speed up bc i’ll be bored in class who knows — but i hope y’all are enjoying anyway.


	5. Time

 

   ‘Are you sure you’re alright to be working right now, Harry?’ Caitlin asked timidly as she approached the man who had been staring at the board in front of him for the past half hour. The board was covered in everything from information about Thawne, to abandoned warehouses, and records of everyone who had purchased the type of car they were looking for in the past month. One of the suspects roughly matched Bolt’s appearance and so Barry and Joe were spending the day going through CCPD records trying to find something to connect her — or one of the other suspects — to Thawne.

   ‘Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?’ Harry snapped, causing Caitlin to flinch. There was a coffee mug clutched between his hands that Caitlin suspected had gone cold long ago as she hadn’t seen him take even a sip. She considered Harry’s tense, tired state, and the anxiousness that seemed to emmitt from him which did nothing to sooth her own pressing fears. It made her wonder what state Harry was in when he first found out Jesse was missing. Thinking about it, Caitlin believed she didn’t know anything about who Harry really was when he first came to their Earth. Thinking more, she believed the only person on the team who came close to understanding Harry at the time was Cisco. Finally, she believed that was still most likely the case, and so it only proved to further her adamancy that Harry should take a break.

   Instead of voicing these thoughts, Caitlin said ‘I just think it would be wise to take a break and come back to this with a clear head.’ She watched as Harry clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the mug in the same moment. Thinking for the safety of the mug and the safety of Harry’s hands, Caitlin calmly removed it from his grasp. This was the only instance when Harry seemed to realise he was still holding the cup.

   ‘Thawne is loose somewhere in the city, along with his speedster protégé and our resident engineer, slash superhero, and the only lead which we have to go on is the car he drives. So no, Snow. I don’t think I will take a break.’ He spoke each calculated word with a venomous drip and Caitlin had to bite back an irritated retort. Luckily for her, Barry and Joe returned at that moment.

   ‘Tell me you’ve got something.’ She pleaded as they made their way into the Cortex.

   ‘We’ve got something!’ Barry cheered happily, his grin seeming to reach his cheeks. ‘Alex Carleton — the one who we thought matched Bolt’s description — is an alias. We spoke to the car dealer and she was only able to give us the address of the warehouse we already visited but we also have the car’s number plate now so we’ll be notified as soon as it’s on the streets again. In the meantime, how’s the serum coming along?’ Barry stretched his arms, a satisfied smile still lingering on his face.

   ‘Fine.’ Harry expressed as he turned around to face the ground finally. ‘Great, actually.’ He corrected as he made his way towards everyone else. ‘One shot and he’ll be powerless for a couple of hours at least. One shot and he’ll be going _as slow as we are right now_.’ Harry laughed before stopping abruptly to glare at Barry. ‘This is all moving too slowly, Allen.’ He insisted and Barry’s satisfied grin dropped from his face as he rolled his eyes.

   ‘What do you want me to do? Search every warehouse in the city? In case you hadn’t noticed, both Thawne and Bolt are speedsters. It wouldn’t be a quick check in and out without them noticing; it would be them noticing me and me being completely unprepared to face them.’ Barry stressed every sentence, leaning his arms on the desk. Harry imitated Barry’s posture so that the two men were face to face.

   ‘So be prepared.’ Harry growled and Barry pushed away with a frustrated huff.

   ‘We’re doing it this way, okay? You’re being rash and stupid and if Cisco we’re here, or Jesse for that matter, they would tell you the same thing.’ Barry lectured. Harry didn’t reply but instead returned to the board. ‘I’m going to see Iris, don’t wait up.’ Was Barry’s finally comment before he left.

 

   ‘Are you _really_ sleeping on the job, _Cisquito_?’ A distantly familiar voice reprimanded and Cisco sat bolt upright, looking around the room to find his workshop come into view. The room, however, was filled with faces of people he hadn’t seen in 5 or so years. He looked down at the pile of materials in front of him, accompanied by blueprints for an obscure part of the particle accelerator. Finally, he took note of the man standing beside him.

   ‘Rathaway . . .’ Cisco grumbled as he rubbed at his eyes. It felt like he must’ve pulled another all nighter working on the machine. At first Cisco considered he should stop doing so, but then the reminder that this machine was the key to the future weighed in on his thoughts and instead the guilt of falling asleep at work tugged at his gut. ‘What do you want?’ He asked Hartley who, as always, looked as though he had a stick up his ass, and seemed to be highly inconvenienced by the fact he had to talk to Cisco — or to anyone — for more than a few seconds.

   ‘Dr. Wells wants to see you in his office. I suggest you go now, unless you desire to take another quick nap beforehand?’ He sneered. Cisco gave Hartley an insincere smile before pushing himself up from the desk and making his way out of the room. Part of Cisco’s mind made him feel like the labs hadn’t looked this way for years, but that part died down when he walked past Caitlin and Ronnie, working way too close together, smiling and laughing together, and he remembered that this is normal. His normal was that he got to work at a million dollar company, doing what he loves, surrounded by the people he loves, and that was pretty amazing. With this thought in mind, Cisco grinned while he walked towards the elevators.

   When he reached Dr. Wells’ door Cisco knocked three times and waited until he heard the person on the other side call for him to enter. Cisco made his way inside and shut the door but made no move to go further into the room.

   ‘Dr. Wells, Hartley said you were looking for me?’ He spoke. Dr. Wells motioned towards the chair in front of his desk and Cisco walked into the room to sit down.

   ‘That’s correct.’ Dr. Wells spoke, folding his hands in front of him, a polite smile on his lips. Something in Cisco did not want to trust the smile but he payed no mind to the thought. ‘I have been watching you very carefully as of late, Cisco, and I must say I’m impressed.’ He praised and Cisco couldn’t help but let his chest swell at the words, a warm feeling settling in his stomach and a smile finding his lips. ‘Not only are you exceptionally talented at what you do, but you have an incredible work ethic, and a kind of charisma that lures everyone to you. People trust you and, more importantly, they entrust you with their problems, be it work related or otherwise.’

   ‘Thank you, Dr. Wells, but I don’t believe _everyone_ feels that way about me.’ Cisco commented. He was thinking pointedly about Hartley but a forgein thought regarding a face he couldn’t quite place intruded his mind; something about a Ryan— _or was it a Ralph?_ Whatever the thought was, it was gone as soon as it arrived and Cisco turned his attention back to his boss who quietly chuckled at Cisco’s long-forgotten comment.

   ‘What I’m getting at here, Cisco, is that a position is soon to open up in your department, and I can’t think of anyone better to fill it than yourself.’ Dr. Wells stood as he spoke and made his way in front of his desk to lean against it, standing in front of Cisco. ‘Cisco, I would like to promote you to executive director of your department.’ Cisco blinked several times, mouth opening and closing, the words that filled his brain fell just short of actual sentences. He looked down at his hands to think for a moment before once again meeting eyes with Dr. Wells.

   ‘Isn’t that Hartley’s job?’ He questioned and Dr. Wells raised an eyebrow. ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ He rushed to say, ‘I’m beyond grateful that you’re considering me for this position but—’ his sentence fell short as he thought about what it would mean for Hartley.

   ‘Even at a time like this, you’re only thinking of everyone else.’ Dr. Wells sighed with a smile. Cisco stood tentatively and walked over to the bookshelf adjectent to Dr. Wells’ desk to contemplate the offer. ‘If you must know, there have been . . . Complications with Mr. Rathaway and I’m afraid I must let him go. As for this offer, I need an answer, Cisco.’ He explained and Cisco closed his eyes to think.

   ‘What kind of complications? The kind that involve the particle accelerator exploding and killing hundreds of people, turning countless ammounts of citizens into meta-humans.’ The words seemed to spill from his mouth before he could process them, his tongue having difficultly wrapping around the dark and bitter tone that accompanied them. Cisco didn’t know quite what he was saying, but then some part of him knew exactly what he was saying, and so he continued. ‘You have to let Hartley go so that he doesn’t prevent you from creating The Flash and, by extension, returning to your own time. Isn’t that right, Thawne?’ All the time he spoke, Cisco did not once turn around to face his boss, instead he stared at the books and trincets on the bookshelf insistently.

   ‘Cisco, what are you talking about? I assure you, the only complications involving Mr. Rathaway are to do with his family’s business. I believe you must not be getting enough sleep. Perhaps this promotion was a bad idea on my part. Instead I think it would be best you take a leave of absence in order to get some well-needed rest. You can return to work when you get this silly si-fi fantasies out of your head.’ At these words, any thoughts about people moving at super-human speeds, or controlling the weather, or opening paths to other worlds, were swept from Cisco’s mind. Instead a kind of fear filled his chest causing him to spin around on the spot and face Dr. Wells once more.

   ‘No!’ Cisco defended before clearing his throat to cover up his sudden outburst. ‘I mean, no, that won’t be necessary. I must just be a bit tired, like you said. You know me, my mind is always travelling at a hundred miles a minute.’ He laughed half-heartedly. ‘I promise you, I’m an excellent candidate for this position. I won’t let you down, sir.’ He boasted, causing Dr. Wells to smile once more.

   ‘That’s what I like to hear.’ He said. ‘So you accept?’ Dr. Wells asked as he held out his hand for Cisco to shake in finalisation. Cisco smiles widely and went to answer, raising his own hand to meet Dr. Wells’ but then the smile dropped from his face, his hand falling back to his side in the same moment.

   ‘No.’ Cisco replied. Dr. Wells lowered his own hand.

   ‘I beg your pardon?’ He questioned and Cisco crossed his arms over his chest.

   ‘I know what you’re doing, Thawne. You can stop the charade, I’m not shaking your hand.’ Cisco spoke, glancing around the office as if he would find a hidden camera or something for the sort. The Dr. Wells in front of him dropped his head with a sigh and his shoulders shook as he laughed.

   ‘Oh, you’re smart.’ He commented and then the room began to fade away. Cisco woke up once more, sitting on his mattresses in the same crumby warehouse he had been in for the past few days. As soon as he was fully awake and out of the dreamscape, Cisco felt his illness return at full force, draining him of any and all energy. ‘I almost had you this time too, didn’t I?’ Thawne spoke smugly from where he sat on the floor in front of Cisco. Cisco took a shaking breath and tried to look at the man in front of him but his eyes ached along with every muscle in his body, and he shook from being cold despite the burning fever he felt lacing his skin. Cisco brought himself to lie down on the temporary bed, knees pulled tightly to his chest.

   ‘They will find me.’ Cisco insisted weakly, his voice barely whispered. ‘Harry will—’ he was cut off by a series of sharp coughs that caused his chest to light up with pain.

   ‘All this,’ Thawne motioned towards Cisco’s perpetually shaking form, ‘All this pain could be over so quickly, if you would just take my hand.’ He offered, as if it were a reasonable solution. He placed his hand facing palm-up on the mattress but Cisco only glared at it before moving his gaze to glare at Thawne himself.

   ‘No way in hell.’ He coughed and then spat on the floor, barely missing Thawne’s leg and only proving to make himself feel weaker. The saliva on the floor came out as a bright, metallic blue.

   ‘Oh Cisco,’ Thawne cooed sweetly as he leaned forward to push some of Cisco’s hair behind his ear, running his fingers through the tangled locks.

   Cisco tried to shake off the hand. ‘Don’t touch me.’ He grumbled and Thawne removed his hand out of courtesy. He stood and phased out of the cell.

   ‘I’ll be back soon with something for you to eat.’ He informed but Cisco wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. Sleep pulled at him again and he allowed himself to shut his eyes for a few moments, hoping to ease some of the pain in them. When Cisco opened his eyes again there was a plate of food layed on the floor next to where he slept. Cisco cursed himself for falling asleep. All he had been able to do over the past few days was sleep, and cough, and sometimes, if he were lucky, finish a meal. He assumed Salina had gotten into trouble for talking to him, as she was hardly in the room anymore and the few times he had been and Cisco tried to strike up another conversation she ignored him. Cisco poked at the food with the fork provided. It was already cold but he decided that he wouldn’t have been about to stomach it anyway.

 

   Iris stood in the Cortex and looked over the monitors in front of her. On one of tHe monitors was any information they had been able to find about what Bolt had been doing in Central City over the past month, on the other monitor was a map of Central City with a red dot moving on it.

   ‘The car is on the move.’ She announced to everyone in the room as she watched the red dot travel across the roads on screen. ‘It was parked in a mall car park north-west of the precinct. There are two abandoned warehouses within walking distance of there. I propose you tail it, find out where they’re going and then follow them back.’ She suggested and Barry nodded, taking a mental note of the address she told him him.

   ‘You coming?’ Barry directed at Harry who had already slung the pulse ruffle over his shoulder.

   ‘Of course.’ He confirmed, situating his cap on his head. Barry nodded again and the pair began to make their way out of the building so that they could use the van to tail whoever was in the car. Iris stopped them before they could leave the Cortex.

   ‘Bar, don’t be stupid, don’t get caught, She wanred him, ‘I love you, good luck.’ Iris concluded as she lended back in the chair to tug her husband down into a kiss. Harry cleared his throat and the couple pulled away. ‘And Harry,’ she continued as if nothing had interrupted her train of thought, ‘you have the serum?’ She asked and Harry revealed the string of containers holding the serum that was situated on his waist. ‘Go get our boy back, good luck.’ She said. Harry only nodded in response.

   ‘Wait, take my car.’ Joe told them before they could leave. ‘If Thawne sees a S.T.A.R Labs van tailing his car, I don’t think he’s just going to ignore it and hope that it’s just a coincidence.’ He explained, tossing Barry the keys.

   ‘Good point.’ Barry agreed. ‘Alright, lets go.’ He and Harry made their way out of the Cortex as Caitlin also called a wish of good luck after them.

 

   The two ended up following Bolt around to what appeared to just be average errands and for a while they even considered that they had the wrong person. Harry complained on more than one occasion about it all taking too long but Barry resorted to only shushing him rather than trying to argue. Finally, Bolt began to drive once more in the direction she had come. She parked in the same parking lot as she was parked at previously and exited the car, walking in the opposite direction of the shopping centre. Barry and Harry shared a look before getting out of the car, following the girl on foot from a distance. Night had fallen during their stake out and if anyone noticed the man walking around with a huge gun strapped to his back, no one questioned it.

   Bolt never noticed them and after roughly 15 minutes of walking they arrived at a warehouse.

   ‘It’s time.’ Barry said quietly as he and Harry searched the sides of the building.

   ‘It’s time.’ Harry repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s 3am as I’m finishing this and im tired af. ive edited this to the best of my current abilities but if there’s still mistakes (which their probs are) I’ll try and fix them tomorrow.
> 
> O look a wild Hartley appears !
> 
> School is great ty for asking — ok but like year 12 is litty i love being a senior and like ??im on top of all my work??its like being on top of the world !!  
> ok im delirious so ima Go now bye ily


	6. Hope

  

   There was a strong sense of electricity in the air and a matter of seconds later Cisco witnessed a red streak of lighting fly past the cell, followed shortly by a matching yellow streak.

   ‘ _Barry!_ ’ Cisco called weakly but the streaks had already vanished from the room. Cisco briefly wondered where Salina was as he hadn’t seen any indigo lightning but the thought was pushed away when he heard heavy boots pounding against the floor above him, eventually making their way to the staircase. Cisco saw the big, dumb, combat boots first; then the large pulse riffle; then finally he saw the man’s face and Cisco had never felt so happy to see Harry’s insanely blue eyes staring back at him.

   ‘ _Cisco!_ ’ Harry gasped as he ran up to the glass. Cisco sat on the edge of the mattresses and stared ahead in disbelief. ‘You idiot, what happened?’ He asked half-heartedly. Cisco didn’t have time to respond as Barry and Thawne returned and began chasing each other around he room in a blur of colours. ‘Stay back.’ Harry ordered Cisco who moved closer to the wall when Harry positioned the rifle to aim at the glass. There was a loud noise and next thing Cisco knew the glass of the cell was shattering and raining down onto the concrete floor. Harry didn’t waste a second in rushing towards Cisco. Cisco said a silent prayer for Harry’s knees as he slid through the glass, coming to a stop in front of the mattresses.

   Cisco registered the worry in Harry’s eyes as he took Cisco’s face in his hands, scanning every part of his face like it was the first time he had seen it in years. Realistically, Cisco knew he’d only been there for a week at most, but he couldn’t help but mirror he feeling, raising his hand to place it over Harry’s.

   ‘Are you alright? Did he hurt you? Can you stand?’ Harry rushed to ask as he slid his hands from Cisco’s face to his shoulders and down to grip his arms. Barry and Thawne continued to speed through the room; paper, dust, and shards of glass beginning to get caught up in the wind and fly about the room.

   Cisco found it in himself to laugh quietly at Harry’s worrying, but the action only caused tears to prick the corners of his eyes with the energy it took.

   ‘I’m alright now.’ He said honestly, feeling the first true shred of hope he had in days. ‘I’m not hurt, just sick. He’s trying to take my powers. I can explain better at the labs.’ Harry could barely hear the words over the sound of the two speedsters tearing up the room around them. Both Cisco and Harry were happy to believe Barry was succeeding in keeping Thawne busy long enough for them to get out of there, but first Cisco needed to work up the energy to walk. ‘I think I can stand but I might need a little help.’ Harry nodded and got to his feet, holding out his hands so that’s Cisco could use him as leverage to pull himself up.

   Cisco offered Harry a grateful smile and, without thinking twice, placed his hands over Harry’s to pull himself up.

   There was barely a second after Cisco’s hands touched Harry’s until Cisco felt an immense but distantly familiar pain shooting through his body, causing him to cry out and squeeze his eyes shut. Cisco could not see nor hear anything over the intruding pain that somehow felt both like fire slowly filling his veins while ice was ripped out of them, the feeling filling every inch of his body and then focussing on his palms.

   When Cisco dared opened his eyes, the scene was completely different to what he remembered. There was no rushing wind and no papers scattered throughout the room. There was no glass on the floor, but Cisco did take into account that he was on the opposite side of the cell. There was a distinct lack of speedsters running around the room, but instead Salina was standing nearby, staring on in what looked like a mixture of wonder, fear, and empathy. Finally, Cisco took note of Thawne standing where Harry had been seconds ago. A sinister grin split across his face as he stared down at his hands where they were still linked with Cisco’s. Cisco hesitantly glanced down to their hands and watched as his veins seemed to glow a bright, sickening blue; the light traveled from his own hands towards Thawne. Cisco could feel vibrations filling the air, creating a loud ringing in his ears, and a shake in the floor.

   Cisco was sure he was close to passing out from the pain but none the less attempted to pull away from Thawne. In response Thawne only gripped Cisco’s hands tighter, pulling him close.

   ‘Did you really think I would let you go that easily?’ Thawne growled. ‘After I’ve come so far, I’m not letting you go until all of your power has found it’s rightful owner.’

   Cisco wanted to yell back a remark about how the multiforce was not something to be owned or manipulated. He wanted say how even if it did have a “rightful owner” it wouldn’t be Thawne. There was a lot Cisco wanted to say in that moment, but instead all he could bring himself to do was cry out a plead of, _‘God! Please stop!’_ which earned him only a laugh from the man who still had Cisco’s hands secured in a bruising grip. Cisco let out a shaky breath as his vision began to blur and darken. The last thing he saw before he hit the ground was a bright flash of lightning.

   Cisco drifted in and out of conciousness from where he lay. The grip on his hands had disappeared but the pain lingered throughout his body and he couldn’t bring himself to process what was happening, Le alone move. Cisco assumed that Thawne had managed to take his powers and then run off, leaving Cisco to die on the dusty floor of some crumby warehouse but then there was a hand on his shoulder. Cisco could feel a presence kneeling in front of him so he used what energy he had to push himself up onto his arms. He blinked his eyes open only to come face to face with Thawne once more.

   ‘No, please— go away.’ Cisco heaved, breathless, as he bowed his head.

   ‘Hey, shh, it’s me. It’s Harry, I’m here.’ The man cooed in a tone Cisco considered to be far too gentle and kind to be true. He ran a hand down Cisco’s arm in a reassuring guesture as he spoke. ‘Barry is here, he’s taking care of Thawne. Bolt ran as soon as we arrived.’ He explained while he pulled Cisco’s shaking form towards his chest to run a hand through his hair. Cisco pushed against his chest and away from the guesture.

   ‘You’re just trying to fuck with my head again . . . You— you already got what you wanted . . . You can leave me alone now.’ The words were exhausted and strained and Harry moved to take Cisco’s face in his hands.

   ‘Ramon, look at me. Look at my eyes. I’m not Thawne.’ Harry tried to convince the boy. Cisco did as Harry asked and stared deep in Harry’s hypnotic, blue pools. For a moment Harry saw recognition flicker in Cisco own eyes and believed that he’d gotten though to him, but a moment later it was gone and Cisco was shaking his head and raising his hands try to and push Harry’s own away from his face. Harry felt his heart sink at this but tried not to focus on it just yet. The main objective was to get Cisco safe and back to the labs, whether he was aware of it or not. Cisco looked like he wanted to fight back more but in the next second he was losing conciousness again. Harry caught him before he could hit the cement once more.

   He lifted Cisco into his arms and called out for Barry who rushed them from the warehouse back to the labs in a matter of seconds.

 

  
   ‘Oh my god!’ Iris exclaimed when they returned to the labs. ‘What happened? Is he going to be alright?’ She barraged. It was only now that Harry came to notice the ever-glowing blue that filled the wrists and palms of the boy still in his arms. Caitlin immediately rushed to the med bay and started to organise her equipment as Harry followed in behind her to place Cisco on the bed, much like how he had only a few days previously.

   ‘When we got there Thawne had a hold of Cisco and was doing this . . . Thing?’ Barry supplies unhelpfully. Looking unsatisfied with his own answer he attempted to elaborate. ‘If i didn’t know any better it looked like he was trying to sap Cisco’s powers but I don’t know how or why. It looked . . . Painful.’ He finished and Harry nodded in confirmation.

   ‘There’s some kind of drug in his system.’ Caitlin told them as she buzzed between monitors. ‘I don’t recognise it but it appears to be detaching Cisco’s DNA from the meta-human gene.’

   ‘What does that mean?’ Iris asked, concern filling her voice.

   ‘It means, I think Barry’s right. Thawne was trying to take his powers. It also means Cisco won’t be able to use his powers until we find something to reverse the effects.’

   There was a sudden _whoosh_  sound and then an unfamiliar voice spoke. ‘I can probably help with that.’ Everyone in the room turned to the source of the voice to find Bolt standing in the doorway. Barry immediately rushed forwards to pin her to the wall but Bolt only raised her hands in surrender and didn’t fight back.

   ‘ _What the hell are you doing here?!_ ’ Barry demanded.

   ‘Like I said,’ she began, her tone now slightly annoyed. ‘I just want to help.’

   ‘Why should we trust you?’ Iris asked from where she stood behind Barry.

   ‘I don’t know.’ Bolt admitted. ‘You can lock me up if that will make you more comfortable. Just know, I hate working for my—’ she paused ‘I hate working for Eobard. I’ve spent my life doing horrible things for him and I’m tired of it.’ She explained.

   ‘So why didn’t you just leave him?’ Iris asked, still skepical.

   ‘It’s complicated.’ Was all Bolt supplied. ‘But when I met Cisco it felt like . . . Like maybe there was a chance that I could be something more than what Eobard wanted me to be.’ She seemed to be speaking more to herself than to anyone in the room at this point and there was a kind of light that found her eyes. There was a couple of seconds of silence but Bolt snapped herself out of her thoughts and shook her head, turning her attention to Iris and Caitlin. ‘I have the cure.’ She announced. ‘It’s a formula meant to attach the meta-human gene to the DNA. D— Eobard created it so that once he obtained Cisco’s powers he would be able to control and manipulate them; I’m sure they could be used to reatch Cisco’s DNA to the gene. I managed to steal the formula before Eobard could use it.’ Bolt pulled a green formula from a pocket in her suit as she told them this. She scanned the room to find mixture of hopeful and unsure faces.

   ‘What do you want in return?’ Barry asked, his grip on her unrelenting.

   ‘Protection.’ Was all Bolt responded. ‘Eobard will be looking for me, I’m sure he’s realised by now that I’ve taken the formula too. I can’t even imagine what he would do if he found me again. Oh my god, this was a terrible idea, I’m going to die, I—’ Bolt’s words began to to mix together as the obvious fear found her rambling. She snapped her eyes shut and took a shuddering breath. Barry took note of the tears that had formed in Bolt’s eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from, I’m just—’

   ‘Scared.’ Iris supplied. ‘We’ll help you.’ She promised and Bolt lifted her gaze to meet Iris, hope and gratitude filling her eyes. ‘I’m going to take you down to the pipeline, only because there’s no way to fully trust you just yet, but I promise we won’t let Thawne hurt you.’ Barry released Bolt and turned to face his wife.

   ‘Iris, are you sure—’

   ‘Positive.’ She interupted and shot Barry a look that shut him up. Iris pushed past her husband and led Bolt out of the room by her arm. When they got to the pipeline Bolt handed Iris the formula and entered the cell. ‘You doing alright?’ Iris asked as she shut the cell door. Bolt nodded and took her mask off. Iris sat down in front of the cell. ‘The first step to us trusting you is you telling us your name. Can you do that?’

   Bolt seemed to hesitate, opening and closing her mouth a couple times. ‘Salina.’ She said quietly, sounding unsure of herself. Iris decided to take her word as truth.

   ‘Thank you, Salina.’ Iris responded, missing the way it made Salina’s nose twitch slightly. ‘I’ll come back in a bit with some clothes for you, okay? Just because you’re in here doesn’t mean you have to be stuck in that suit.’ She offered kindly. Salina nodded again.

   ‘Can I see Cisco when he wakes up?’ Salina asked.

   Iris was silent for a minute as she considered the request. ‘We’ll see.’ She replied with a tight smile. Iris stood and made her way back up to the med bay to give Caitlin the formula. ‘Her name is Salina.’ Iris told the group. ‘She asked if she could see Cisco once he woke up.’

   ‘No.’ Harry said before the words were even out of Iris’ mouth. ‘We’re not letting her anywhere near him. Cisco has been through enough we don’t need her adding to it.’ He decided and if anyone noticed the way his hand was gripping Cisco’s, they didn’t say anything.

   ‘I think we should wait until Cisco’s awake and well enough to make the decision to see her on his own.’ Caitlin said as she pushed the hair out of Cisco’s face. Iris nodded in agreement and ignored Harry’s scoff and eyeroll. ‘I’m going to go run some tests on this formula, to make sure it really is what Bolt- What _Salina_  says it is. I could use your help, Harry.’ Harry reluctantly let go of Cisco’s hand and followed Caitlin out of the room with only a lingering gaze on the boy in the bed.

   Barry came up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder and placing a kiss on her cheek as the pair of them watched over their friend.

   ‘Caitlin gave him a sedative so that he’ll sleep through the night.’ Barry informed and Iris nodded.

   ‘Do you think I made the right choice? In letting her stay, I mean.’ Iris asked as she turned around in Barry’s arms. His hands slipped to her waist as hers found his shoulders.

   ‘I don’t know.’ Barry replied honestly. ‘But I do know that you’re incredibly smart and level headed in stuations where I can’t be, and I know that you have the biggest heart. So I think . . . I think whether or not it was the right choice, things will have a way of sorting themselves out for the better.’ He told her, planting a kiss on her forehead.

   ‘I hope so.’ She replied.

 

   In a situation becoming all too familiar, Harry found himself in the med bay waiting at Cisco’s side long after he had helped Caitlin with the formula which they concluded was safe. He stared at Cisco’s face but Harry was unfocused, distant, as all the thoughts of the past week caught up with him. The way that Cisco looked at him when he first vibed Thawne, and the way he looked at him the night they found him. Harry decided long ago that if he ever got the chance he would kill Thawne. For stealing his doppelgänger’s face, for making Earth 1 an unsafe place for him to live, for ruining the lives of the people he cared about. He was going to kill Thawne. As every second ticked on Harry only became more anxious of the moment Cisco would wake up and possibly not recognise him. It seemed as though it took years for the sunlight to finally arise, but when it did, it suddenly felt like it had all happened too fast. As if in tune to Harry’s thoughts, the boy in the bed began to stir. Harry could only hang onto hope that Cisco would recognise him. Then again, there wasn’t very much good karma coming for Harry these days.

   Cisco’s eyes fluttered open at first but then snapped wide as he pushed him self up right. ‘ _G-get away from me!_ ’ He stuttered voice hoarse and strained. He tried to scramble out of the bed, getting tangled in drips, wires, and sheets, eventually giving up and settling for shuffling to the top of the bed.

   ‘Ramon, calm down.’ Harry tried to enforce, jumping to his feet in defence.

   ‘You don’t get to tell me to calm down. _You dont_   _get to call me that_.’ Cisco snapped. ‘You’ve already tried this, do you really think I’m dumb enough to fall for it again?’

   ‘I don’t think you’re dumb, Ramon. You’re one of the most brilliant people I’ve met, that’s why I know you can figure this out.’ Harry told him, resting his hands on Cisco’s shoulders and searching Cisco’s eyes for any hint of recognition. ‘I’m not him, you know this.’

   ‘Why aren’t I waking up? _I should’ve woken up_.’ Cisco said urgently, trying to shake Harry off.

   ‘That’s because you’re not dreaming, Ramon. Look at me.’ Harry resented the desperation that was starting to take shape in his voice but the only thing that ocupied his mind was the need for Cisco to see him again.

   ‘ _Get off me!_ I thought you already took my powers; what else do you want?’

   ‘What on Earth is going on?’ Iris yelled as she and Caitlin ran into the med bay. ‘Hey, come on, you need to go.’ She said to Harry as she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him from the room. Harry easily got away from Iris’ grasp, going back to the boy who continued to yell various remarks about not being tricked again.

   ‘ _Come on, Ramon, you know it’s me, you know this!_ ’ Harry persisted, dropping all other defenses. Intent with trying to gain Cisco’s recognition, Harry didn’t realise when Iris finally succeeded in pushing him from the room until he saw the door shut in his face. Coming to his senses in the face of the slamming door, Harry took a deep breath and then stormed off in the other direction to find something to throw.

   On the other side of the door, Iris was trying to hold Cisco down as he fought back.

   ‘What? So can you take the form of literally everyone in these dreams now? That’s real convenient, isn’t it, Thawne?’ He accused loudly as he tried to push away from Iris’ hold. Fortunately for Iris, he wasn’t necessarily difficult to hold down, still feeling the effects of the sickness, only less-so due to the mix of painkillers and adrenaline. ‘ _Hey! No!_ What is that? _What is that?_ ’ Cisco struggled furiously when he spotted the syringe in Caitlin’s hands. She administered the sedative and Iris breathed a sigh of relief when he finally passed out again. The two women shared a hurt and confused look.

   ‘I’ll call Barry, you shouldn’t go talk to Harry.’ Iris said and Caitlin nodded in agreement.

 

   After almost an hour of searching, Caitlin finally found Harry sitting in a random hallway, ditching a ball at the wall and catching it on repeat.

   ‘Have you been down here the whole time?’ She asked.

   ‘Obviously not, Snow.’ He didn’t take his eyes from the ball as he spoke and didn’t react when Caitlin took a seat next to him. ‘I went to the workshop for a bit, found a ball, wondered around for a while, and now I’m here.’ Harry explained, catching the ball again on the final sentence. ‘Remind me to tidy up Ramon’s workshop again before he gets back. Don’t want him thinking a speedster went in and destroyed everything.’ He spat the sentence second sentence. through grit teeth, ditching the ball at the wall with incredible force. Caitlin sheilded her face as the ball ricocheted, coming to hit the wall next to her. They listened as it proceeded to bounce down the hallway, the noise of it continuously hitting he floor echoing in it’s wake. Harry linked his hands together and rested his head against the wall, closing his eyes with a sigh.

   ‘So . . . I can’t help but notice you lost your cool a little bit back there.’ Caitlin commented. ‘Which might sound a little ironic coming from me.’

   ‘You don’t understand, Snow.’ Caitlin expected a biting remark but the comment was quiet, insecure even. ‘You don’t know what it like to have one of the only people you care about look at you like you’re the worst person to exist. To look at you like you’re the person who ruined his life. You don’t know.’

   ‘Don’t I?’ She laughed quietly. ‘You’re talking to the person who has betrayed, lied to, kidnapped, stabbed, and threatened to kill everyone on this team at least once. We can sit here and debate whether or not that was me all day but the fact of the matter is that those things are hard to come back from. I feel like every time I turn into . . . _her_ , I get looked at a little different, their opinions of me change a little bit, they see me in a different light, and all in all I’m not who I was two years ago. But you, Harry, you’re not Thawne. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. Even Cisco. And whatever is happening right now, whatever Cisco is going through, it’s our job to help him through it.’ Harry looked down at his hands, taking in Caitlin’s words. He hadn’t considered what things were like for her. He found comfort in their similarities and having her nearby was a good distraction from his pressing emotions. ‘Barry and Joe are probably here by now. We could use that big brain of yours. You going to come help?’ She asked and Harry was silent for a few seconds.

   ‘Yeah.’ He said quietly, nodding. ‘Yeah of course.’

   ‘Good.’ Caitlin chirped, jumping to her feet. She looked down and held out a hand out for Harry, who smiled softly and he took it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyye check me out I changed the description finally.  
> Um I have a really bad habit of editing while I’m half awake idk if y’all can tell. But I’ve been waiting to write this chapter for fucking ever and boi was it A Ride.  
> listen,,, okay,,, im not the best writer but i have stories that i want to tell and if that means getting excited over this piece of flaming garbage then so be it.
> 
> but anyway what do y’all think about bolt? are they to be trusted? did iris ever get bolt a change of clothes? where did this cut on my arm come from?  
> find out next time on . . .  
> Mackenzie Falls !!


	7. J. Quick

 

   ‘So what you’re saying is he thinks we’re all Thawne trying to trick him?’ Joe asked for clarification.

   ‘Essentially, yes.’ Caitlin replied. ‘He refuses to trust any of us, least of all Harry due to, well,’ She made a vague guesture to Harry who in turn made an equally vague guesture towards his own face. Joe nodded in understanding. ‘Question is, how do we gain the trust of someone who thinks the whole world is out to get him?’ She posed the question as she slumped down into the chair, the feeling of defeat showing on her solemn face.

   ‘I think we need to find someone who he trusts that Thawne wouldn't know. Someone that Cisco would believe Thawne had never met, at least. He’ll put two and two together and realise they can’t be Thawne if Thawne doesn’t know they exist.’ Iris spoke up. ‘But then who is there that a time traveller from the future wouldn’t’ve heard of? I mean, between all our friends being superheroes, vigilantes, and genius scientists, who doesn't he know?’

   ‘What about a genius scientist superhero from another Earth?’ Barry asked suddenly. His expectant look changed when he saw everyone else looking lost. ‘I mean Jesse.’

   ‘What?’ Harry growled as an initial warning.

   ‘Obviously there’s no way to know for sure whether or not Thawne knows about Jesse in the future but I just can’t help but feel like if anyone can get through to Cisco it’s her.’

   ‘No. Absolutely not. You are not dragging my daughter into this, Allen.’ Harry said as he took a dangerous step forwards.

   ‘Hey, no, of course not.’ Barry raised his hands in defence. ‘My idea is that if Jesse can get through to Cisco, the two of them can then go back to Earth 2. They’ll both be out of harms way while we fix what’s happening here.’

   ‘What exactly are we fixing here? I can’t help but feel like the objective changes every few minutes.’ Joe pointed out.

   ‘A . . . Valid observation.’ Iris supplied. ‘Right now I think we need to find out what we can about Salina in order to figure out what to do about Thawne. But right now we’re focusing on getting Cisco back. Harry, are you with us?’ She asked to which Harry responded by removing his glasses and rubbing his forehead, silently considering the plan.

   ‘I’ll contact Jesse.’ He spoke finally, placing the glass back on his face.

   Barry offered Harry a nod of gratitude before turning to address Caitlin. ‘How about the antidote Salina gave us? Have you been able to decipher if it’s safe yet?’ He asked. At this, Caitlin stood with a newfound look of hope gracing her features.

   ‘With Harry’s help yesterday and by staying up most of the night running tests, I think I can finally say for certain that it is in fact a cure and that it is safe. I don't have anyway of knowing what the side effects are but seeing as Thawne planned on taking it I can only assume it's nothing terrible. I believe he’s the type of person who would make sure something is as safe as possible when concerning himself.’ She expressed her thoughts and everyone seemed to agree with her analysis.

   ‘Alright, good job, Cait.’ Iris said. ‘You should go administer the cure and, Harry, you’ll talk to Jesse?’ She asked and Harry nodded wordlessly. ‘I’m going to go check on Salina, and you two,’ she turned to her husband and her father ‘should probably get back to work.’ They each separated to do their allocated tasks, however the weight of the clock ticking seemed to grow steadily heavier with each passing second. There was no telling when Thawne would show his face again but as Iris made her way towards the pipeline she allowed a kind of lightness lift her every step, certain that they would come out on top. When Iris brought forwards Salina’s containment pod, the speedster was sitting in the middle of the cell with her legs crossed and eyes closed. She seemed to be lost in thought. She wore a S.T.A.R Labs sweater and a pair of Iris’s jeans. Iris silently took a seat in front of the cell and cleared her throat to indicate to Salina she was there. Salina’s eyes fluttered open and there was a new kind of energy about her that seemed almost calm and tranquil despite the circumstances. This only proved to confirm Iris’ feeling that everything might just be alright. ‘Is that meditation?’ She asked and Salina offered her a welcome smile accompanied by a nod. ‘Yeah, my brother was really into that.’ Iris added.

   ‘ _Was?_ ’ Salina asked.

   ’Oh, I mean, he’s probably still into it, it’s just I don't get to see him as often as I used to.’ Iris clarified. ‘He’s been— Well, he’s— It’s complicated.’ Iris laughed, giving up on trying to explain her brother’s situation.

   ‘You’re talking to someone with super-speed who was made in a lab by a sociopath — a sociopath who also happens to have super-speed, mind you — and who was forced to travel back in time to help steal the powers of said-sociopath’s ex-employee. Babe, I know complicated.’ Salina said with a mixture of bitterness and humor lacing her voice.

   ‘ _Woah_ . . .’ Was all Iris could think to reply as she tried to process all that she had just heard. ‘So you're like . . . Technically Thawne’s daughter?’ Iris asked.

   ‘Technically Thawne’s kid, yeah.’ She sighed. ‘Cisco already knows this much so I figured I’d tell you. Um, but if I’m catching you up on what Cisco knows then maybe it’s also worth noting that when I was . . . made, a majority of the DNA used was someone else’s. I’m sure that’s weird to hear but I guess other than getting away from Eobard for good, I hope to find who the other person is, you know?’

   Iris breathed a sigh at hearing what Salina had to say. She opened and closed her mouth for a few seconds before finally speaking. ‘Maybe we could help you?’ Iris offered along with a sad smile.

   ‘Would you?’ Salina asked, leaning forward slightly, her hopeful eyes meeting Iris’ unsure ones.

   ‘Of course.’ Iris smiled. ‘I can't promise that we’ll find them, considering you’re from the future and all, but between our handful of scientists I’m sure we could find maybe a distant relative or something.’

   ‘Thank you, Iris.’ Salina said. ‘Now, tell me about this brother of yours, it sounds like you’re missing him.’ Iris laughed but chose to humour Salina anyway.

    ‘Well, his name is Wally,’ she began.

 

   ‘Hey!’ Jesse chimed brightly as she came to a stop after speeding through the breach.

   ‘Thank you for coming.’ Harry said as he pulled his daughter into a hug. ‘My Jesse Quick.’ he said lovingly, placing a kiss to her forehead. Jesse giggled softly and pushed her father away. ‘Where’s Cisco?’ She asked, determination in her eyes and in her heart. Harry led her through the labs to the med bay and they stopped outside the door, Jesse’s hand resting on the handle. She looked back on her father who nodded to her. ‘You’re not coming in?’ she asked. Jesse knew the answer, knew why he couldn’t come in, knew why she had been asked here, but there was a sudden pressure on her chest and a weight on her shoulders. Fear that she wouldn't be able to contact her friend haunted her and the weight that she felt was almost enough to push the door open upon its own accord.

   ‘It’s best I don’t.’ He confirmed and Jesse nodded with a forced smile, opening the door and taking a step inside.

   There was a few seconds of silence when the door was closed before Jesse was making her way back out into the Cortex. ‘Uh, _Dad!_ ’ She called. Harry had barely sat down before he was once again jumping to his feet in alarm. ‘He’s not in there.’ Jesse told him.

   ‘ _Snow!_ ’ Harry called, knowing Caitlin was nearby. Surely enough, she came running into the room seconds after, asking if something had happened. ‘Where is Ramon?’ He asked, stiffly turning to face the woman. She looked confused which only helped to spike the anxiety already flooding the room.

   ‘I gave Cisco the antidote 15 minutes ago. He was still asleep when I was there.’ She told them. ‘It won't have taken effect yet so he can’t have gotten far.’ She reasoned. Harry turned to lean over the monitors behind himself and flipped through the security cameras.

   He sighed a breath of relief. ‘He’s in his workshop.’ Harry and Jesse shared a look and then she sped off. Moments later Harry and Caitlin watched on the security feed as Jesse walked calmly into the workshop.

   ‘Hey man,’ Jesse spoke, aiming for casual but achieving a much more hesitant tone than she was hoping for. Cisco, who was packing a bag, spun around grasping a gun whigh bore resemblance to the cold gun.

   ‘Jesse . . . ?’ He asked, letting the gun drop slightly before pulling it up again in alert. ‘Don’t take another step forward, Thawne. You’re really out here doing the most to get to me, aren’t you?’ Jesse stood her ground, hands raised in a sign of peace.

   ‘Cisco, dude, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m not Thawne. Never even met the guy. He sounds like a bit of a dick, if you ask me.’ She said lightheartedly, hoping if she joked around with Cisco like how she used to it would help him to recognise her. ‘In fact, remeber that time we pulled an all-nighter in the labs trying to find a way to stop Savitar. We were so loopy from sleep deprivation that we started talking about how weird it would be to hear my dad saying “dude” or “bro” and at the time it was the funniest thing ever.’ She laughed as she recalled the memory. ‘Man, I remember you saying the only thing weirder would be hearing Thawne say “dude” and we spent the next half hour or so imitating posh business dudes using typical millennial slang.’ As she spoke, Jesse managed to take a few steps forwards without Cisco realising.

   ‘We ended up falling asleep on the lab floor and when your dad found us instead of waking us up he went and found some pillows and blankets. I remember.’ Cisco finished the story. ‘But that doesn’t prove anything.’ He said, raising his defenses and the gun in time. ‘For all I know there could have still been cameras in the labs at that point, you could have seen the whole thing.’

   ‘Yeah, I did see the whole thing.’ Jesse confirmed. ‘Because I, Jesse, was there.’ She said.

   Cisco sighed and pushed a strand of hair behind his ear but did not relent his position. ‘I want to believe you’re Jesse. There’s probably nothing I want more in the world right now than to believe that you — to believe all the people I’ve seen these past days — are who they say they are, but I can’t.’ He said sadly, a kind of desperation filling his voice.

   Jesse thought for a moment. ‘Okay, how about this.’ She said. ‘What about that time we went camping, there wouldn’t have been any cameras or any other way for Thawne to know what happened on that trip.’ She said. Cisco didn’t speak, letting her continue, wanting to see where she was going with the story. ‘You and I shared a tent because my dad refused to let Wally share a tent with me.’ She giggled sadly at the thought of her ex. ‘I woke up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare and accidentally woke you up too.’ Jesse saw recognition and curiosity flash behind Cisco’s eyes so she continued. ‘I remember you held me and stroked me hair until I calmed down and you . . . You sung to me to help me get back to sleep.’ She looked down at her feet and smiled fondly at the memory. ‘How did it go, again? It was like . . .’ She thought for a minute.

   ‘ _Take my love, take my land,_  
Take me where I cannot stand,  
I don't care cause I'm still free,  
You can't take the sky from me,’ she sung quietly, laughing from embarrassment afterwards and scratching her neck. Cisco considered her for a moment and as Jesse sung things staryed to piece together in Cisco’s mind.

 _‘Take me out, to the black,_  
Tell 'em I ain't coming back,  
Burn the land and boil the sea,  
You can't take the sky from me,’ Cisco was possibly more shocked than Jesse when he distractedly began to continue the lyrics. Some part of him, the part that wanted to believe this was really Jesse, felt it was right in the moment. Jesse took the opportunity to move forwards enough to place her hand on the gun.

   ‘ _There's no place I can be  
Since I found serenity,_ ’ they sung together as Jesse managed to pull the gun from Cisco’s hands and place it on a counter.

   ‘So . . .’ She trailed off, considering her words. ‘Do you— Do you believe it’s me?’ She asked, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Cisco looked conflicted.

   ‘I . . . Don’t know.’ He replied quietly. Jesse dropped her hand and instead moved to hold Cisco’s arms loosely.

   ‘Come on, man, you know it’s me.’ She encouraged. Cisco looked deep into her eyes, scanning every part of her. Whether it was because something struck a chord or because he was just too tired to disagree anymore, Cisco didn’t know, but something seemed to click into place. Jesse watched as Cisco’s eyes lit up with realisation. He pulled her into a hug and she sighed in relief as she hugged back. Back in the Cortex, Caitlin and Harry also let out identical relieved sighs.

   After a couple minutes Cisco pulled away from the hug. ‘Wait then . . . What’s going on exactly? Where’s Thawne? And Salina? And why don’t I feel sick anymore? And where’s H—’

   ‘Hey, slow down, man.’ Jesse put a pause to Cisco’s rambling. ‘I’ll explain everything in due time. Right now we need to get you to where it’s safe on Earth-2.’ She told him.

   ‘What? No I’m not just leaving everyone behind to take care of Thawne. I’m staying and helping.’ He insisted and Jesse crossed her arms.

   ‘You are in no position to help. But don’t worry, I’m not allowed to stay and fight either.’ She laughed but it was clear she was bitter about it. ‘I’m on strict orders from my dad to get you and myself to safety and so that’s what I’m doing.’

   Cisco thought for a moment. ‘Okay.’ He agreed reluctantly and Jesse smiled.

   ‘Come on.’ She spoke and in a flash they had sped off to Earth-2 without a second thought.

 

   It had been over 24 hours since Cisco and Jesse had retreated to Earth-2 and Barry had opted to speak to Salina.

   ‘Ah, Barry Allen, my arch nemesis.’ Salina greeted. Barry spared her a confused and apprehensive look that Salina laughed off. ‘A joke. I don’t have a problem with you, babe. I assume you’re here to try and force me to tell you the plan?’ She joked. Barry said nothing, only looked over her with stern intensity. ‘Listen, man, I’ll tell you what I can. I need you guys as much as you need me, y’know?’

   ‘That’s right. Because you’re not here just for protection. You want to know who your family is.’ He said bitterly, leaning in the arch or the pipeline. ‘Before we get to that, why don’t you start by telling me what timeline you’re from?’

   ‘Let’s see . . . I’m not sure how much this helps but I was created a year before my father tried to kill your mother. I was raised intermittently between one of my father’s colleagues and himself from different timeless. He was never around for more than a few months at a time and he would spend that time tutoring me, training my speed, running tests, but you don’t want to hear about my confusing upbringing.’ She had turned to lean her back on the glass as she spoke, no longer facing Barry. ‘These past four or so years, however, he’s been at home more often than not. I think, the last time you would’ve seen him was Plan X, or the Earth-X plan. . . Yeah, that was it, that was when we realised that— _oh_.’

   ‘Realised what?’ Barry pressed.

   ‘Realised uh— Realised how far Cisco’s powers had come, obviously.’ She turned back around with an apologetic smile and awkward laugh. ‘He finally decided I was ready to come on a mission with him and so this was the first time I’ve time traveled.’ She said.

   ‘Okay . . . That leads us onto why Thawne wants Cisco’s powers.’ Barry insisted.

   Salina hesitated, wringing her hands in the hem of her sweater and looking off to the side. ‘That’s because uh,’ she bit her lip. ‘Actually can we just leave it there for now?’ She rushed but Barry wasn’t giving up so easily.

   ‘Salina, please, you need to tell me.’

   ‘Listen, _Flash_ , it doesn’t matter why my d- why Eobard wants the powers. What matters is that he’s not going to rest until he has them. You have to find a way to stop him.’ She pleaded and for the first time Barry looked on at her with pity in his heart rather than hatred.

   ‘Okay,’ he sighed. ‘Will we be able to count on you for help?’ He asked.

   Salina seemed to think for a few moments ‘I don’t know . . .’ She mumbled.

   ‘That’s alright. He is your father-ish-person so I get it if you can’t fight back. I’ll talk to Caitlin about getting a DNA test.’ He told her. Bolt looked up at him with as bright a smile she could muster. Barry held a hand out when she tried to thank him. ‘It’s the least we can do. I’m sure this is difficult for you.’ She nodded and tried to convey as much gratitude to him as she could manage. ‘I’ll send her down.’ He said as he turned to leave the pipeline.

 

   ‘Woah . . .’ Cisco breathed as Jesse led him into the house. Scratch that; the borderline mansion. ‘How you guys can go from living here to staying in that spare office on my Earth I’ll never understand.’ He expressed as he followed Jesse up a flight of modern, glass stairs which protruded from the wall.

   ‘Honestly, that office isn’t so different from my campus dorm room. There’s a guest room through here.’ Jesse said as she opened a door at the end of a corridor that led to a large room with light grey carpet, cream walls, and thin white curtains framing a large window adjacent to a neatly made bed of light grey silk. Cisco placed the bag he had hastily packed onto the bed and sat down next to it, feeling overwelhmingly out of place in the richly decorated room. ‘I’ll make us some lunch. The kitchen is downstairs and to the left when you’re ready.’ She explained, turning and leaving the room, shutting the door with a neat click.

   Cisco ran his finger tips over the bed sheets before standing up and making his way to the window which overlooked a large overgrown garden that looked like it hadn’t been tended to in many years. As his thoughts jumped from the garden, to Jesse, to Harry, Cisco considered his last few interactions with Harry. He felt a pang of guilt as the unclear memories flooded into his mind. He tried to shake off the thoughts, instead opting to make his way to the ensuite on the other side of the room. Everything was clad in grey marble. Cisco washed up and made his way back downstairs to greet Jesse. Once they ate, Jesse said she was going to go check in on how things were going on Earth-1 and with a quick mention to Cisco about making himself at home, she sped off. As if Cisco could begin to feel at home. As he considered the large, empty, house, Cisco thought to himself that living in a small office on another earth was probably easier, in its own way.

 

   Jesse found everyone, including Salina, in the Cortex, watching on in suspense as Caitlin analysed the DNA.

   ‘Okay . . . It’s running through the database now.’ Caitlin said, sitting back with bated breath. She sat up straighter a moment later as something in the monitor beeped in completion. Everyone leaned in as Caitlin sucked in a breath.

   ‘What is it?’ Jesse and Salina asked in unison, turning to each other and laughing softly at themselves.

   ‘The DNA has strands almost indistinguishable from . . . Well . . .’ She didn’t have to finish the sentence as her eyes slid up towards where Harry was stood on the other side of the monitor.

   ‘ _What?_ ’ Harry grit in response and Caitlin shook her head, fingers running over the screen.

   ‘There’s no way to tell for sure but I believe it’s most likely that Thawne used the DNA of the original Harrison Wells from our Earth.’ Caitlin clarified and Salina sucked in a breath identical to Caitlin’s.

   ‘Wait, but I thought you said you were created _before_ Thawne got stuck in our time?’ Iris spoke up. ‘How could that work?’

   ‘Perhaps it’s possible that he needed a prodigy but didn’t have time to train one, so he went back in time, to before he got stuck, and created you, Salina.’ Barry deduced.

   ‘Great so we can add time aberration to the list of ways that I’m fucked up.’ Salina said, distressed. Jesse moved to her side and rubbed Salina’s back in what she hoped was a soothing notion.

   ‘But why would he need a prodigy?’ Jesse asked the group.

   ‘And why wouldn’t he have the time to train them?’ Iris added.

   Barry seemed to step forward hesitantly, glancing to Salina unsure, opening and closing his mouth a couple times before gathering his thoughts. ‘I had a thought when I was talking to Salina in the pipeline. Maybe—’ He hesitates again.

   ‘What is it, Bar?’ Joe encoraged.

   ‘He’s sick, isn’t he?’ Barry asked Salina and Jesse felt The speedster freeze under her touch.

   Salina dropped her shoulders and glanced and the floor with a nod. ‘It’s just a matter of time until all the time paradoxes he’s created catch up with him. We don’t know how long it will be until they all collapse, bringing him with them.’ She explained, her voice was thick and she tried to be discrete as she wiped her eyes.

   ‘There’s one thing a I still don’t understand.’ Joe spoke up. ‘If he knows he’s doomed, why bother trying to steal Cisco’s powers?’ He asked. Salina looked up again, blinking away what tears were left.

   ‘You guys really don’t see just how powerful Cisco is, do you?’ She laughed bitterly. If Eobard can master Cisco’s abilities he’ll be in sync with the entire multiverse. He’ll be able to exist in plains death can’t reach.’ She explained.

   ‘So, really we just need to keep him away from Cisco until the paradoxes catch up with him.’ Barry stated.

   ‘We don’t know how long that could be, though.’ Caitlin supplied.

   ‘No, but it’s a start.’ Harry spoke up. ‘We need to get to work on finding him again. Jesse, you should get back home.’ He decided.

   ‘I want to stay and help.’ She said indignantly.

   Harry made his way to his daughter and placed his hands on her shoulder. ‘You are helping, Jesse, by keeping Cisco safe.’ He told her, raising a hand to hold her cheek.

   ‘Of course.’ She said quietly with a smile.

   ‘I think you should take Salina with you.’ Barry spoke up, gaining sceptical and unsure looks from everyone in the room. ‘We promised we would keep her safe, right?’ Everyone shared a nod. ‘Alright then it’s settled.’

   ‘Good. Now you should get going.’ Harry instructed. Jesse nodded and and took Salina’s hand in her own. In a bolt of lightening the two speedsters were gone.

 

   Cisco, Jesse, and Salina were sat around the Wells’ living room, discussing all that had happened as the sun steadily set, the orange-pink grow filtering through the large patio door windows and casting the grey and cream room in its rose golden light.

   ‘So, seeing as you’re not trying to kill us anymore, I think we need to give you a new superhero name.’ Cisco thought out loud from where he sat on the sofa. Salina gave him a confused stare from where she was meticulously stacking playing cards on the coffee table. She’d found them in some cupboard after running out of things to stress clean — the Wells’ house apparently being already too neat. 

   ‘I’m not a superhero though.’ She countered. ‘Besides, I like Bolt. It’s simple and straight to the point.’

   ‘Its also the name of a Disney dog.’ Cisco gave her an unimpressed look as he made the comparison. ‘How about this.’ He posed. ‘Seeing as you’re technically a Wells,’ he began, earning a bemused look from both speedsters in the room. ‘You should take after Jesse Quick and become . . . Salina Quick! Wait, no that’s awful, I’m out of practice.’ He contemplated as Jesse, who was sat on an armchair with her feet on the coffee table, laughed at his attempt.

   ‘Well actually,’ Salina said. She seemed hesitant to say what was on her mind but shook past it. ‘Since we’re talking about names and new beginnings and stuff there’s something I want to say.’ She didn’t move her eyes from the ground and her hands balled into fists on the glass coffee table. She took a couple of steadying breaths, the other two people in the room waited quietly for her to speak in her own time. ‘It’s actually pretty normal in the time I’m from, but my dad was always weird about it, he hated the idea of it, so I don’t really know how you guys will react.’ She was starting to ramble. Cisco moved to sit next to her on the floor placing a hand on her shoulder and Jesse moved her feet from off the coffee table, leaning forwards in her chair.

   ‘Hey, it’s alright, you can tell us anything.’ Cisco said.

   ‘Yeah, you’re like part of the family now.’ Jesse added.

   Salina laughed lightlyand took another breath. ‘I’m—’ she paused. ‘I’m what you guys would call transgender. We call them switchers when I’m from just because it’s like, less formal, y’know? Um, but, sorry if it’s weird or whatever, I’m just, I don’t know.’ They sighed trying to collect their thoughts. Cisco wrapped an arm around their shoulders and Jesse placed her hand on their knee.

   ‘Hey, dude, that’s totally normal you don’t have to apologise for anything. Just tell us what name and pronouns you use and we can talk about how or if you want to tell the others later.’ Cisco spoke.

   ‘Thank you.’ They said quietly. ‘I like ‘he’ and ‘they’, and I really like the name Johnny.’ He spoke, looking up finally with a soft smile.

   ‘Johnny it is.’ Jesse beamed.

   ‘Even better — _Johnny Quick!_ ’ Cisco said excitedly causing a laugh from both Jesse and Johnny.

   Jesse then jumped to her feet and dusted her hands off. ‘I think it’s about time we made dinner.’ She decided. ‘Come on, you two, you’re not gonna make the only woman in the house do all the cooking, are you?’ She laughed.

   ‘Definitely not if that lunch was anything to judge your skills by.’ Cisco chastised, getting to his feet. ‘You ever heard of this little thing called seasoning?’ He teased earning a scoff from Jesse as he walked past her to get to the kitchen. Jesse held a hand out for Johnny who took it gratefully as he got to his feet.

   ‘Welcome to the family, Johnny Quick.’ Jesse said, messing up the boy’s hair. ‘Race you to the kitchen?’

   ‘You’re on.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI LOOK I UPDATED !!  
> I actually finished this chapter a couple weeks ago but never got the time to edit it ???  
> Hope you enjoyed !!  
> Also omg those Salina/Johnny reveals ???  
> Be honest, who saw it coming sksjsksjjs
> 
> Listen,, i know Johnny is meant to be (1) a bad guy and (2) Jesse’s dad but  
> -i don’t  
> -give a  
> -fuck  
> Nah tbh idk what it is but I’m just really hoping that if they do bring Johnny into the show at some point he’s Jesse’s doppelgänger and trans, but the writers are pussies who will never write a trans character.
> 
> Anyway not many chapters left now OOoOoOoOo we’re getting to close to the finale !!
> 
> Oh also !! The paragraph I wrote about how weird it wouldn’t be to hear Harry say “dude” — I wrote that before 4x7 came out. But Harry saying dude in 4x7 was weird to me so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Wow okay that was a lot. Bye !! Pls leave comments they keep me going, I will literally die without them.


	8. Vibe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait hahahaha ive been very unmotivated to finish this rip but here’s a long and lowkey emotional chapter

* * *

 

   ‘What is taking so long?’ Johnny complained loudly from where he hung upside down on an arm chair in the living room. It had been little over a week since they first arrived on Earth 2 and tensions were running high. Johnny was seldom in the house, opting to explore as much of Earth 2 as possible, claiming to feel suffocated in the huge house. Jesse, who was on strict orders from her father not to return to Earth 1 until things were safe, had burnt patches in the unkempt garden out the back, in accordance with her obsessive pacing. Cisco did what he’s always done during stressful times and started taking refuge in the Wells’ basement lab which he had discovered on one of his many explorations around the house. The lab had all the equipment he needed to keep his hands, and mind, occupied, building needless devices and working to regain control over his powers which were slowly but surely coming back to him one by one.

   Like every other room he visited, Cisco couldn’t help his thoughts from wandering to Harry whenever he was in the lab. After all he was using Harry’s tools, in Harry’s lab, in Harry’s house, on Harry’s Earth, and the vibes were an inevitable burden. They ranged from showing him what was happening on Earth 1 — a whole lot of nothing, by the way — to showing him Harry’s past, and Cisco found himself learning more about the grumpy scientist he’d come to adore than he ever thought he would. Or ever thought he should.

   There were happy memories, of course. The key bowl by the front door showed him a man and his wife moving into the empty house for the first time. In the living room was the depiction of a little girl taking her first steps. The kitchen sink brought a vision of the man and his wife cooking together. The staircase took him into an extravagant sweet sixteenth party, with odd decorations mixed between pink balloons and some kind of steampunk theme.

   But there were bad ones too. Vibes Cisco wished he could erase from his mind, and memories he wished he could erase from the walls around him. The kitchen table brought a vision of a difficult conversation, followed by an image of a man carrying a dufflebag and kissing his family goodbye. The welcome mat featured him coming home to a daughter who hid behind her mother anxiously, the seconds seeming to last eternity until she recognised the man before her. In the study stood a vision of an 8 year old asking when mommy would come back from the hospital, the man having to guide her back to her room to tuck her in and tell a bedtime story about a princess and a poison that couldn’t be cured, the little girl understood too well for her own good. The lab bombarded Cisco with frequent visions of things being flung at walls, glass shattering, and yells of anguish and pain.

   It was like living with ghosts, Cisco thought one day after catching himself from almost ditching his vibe goggles at a wall mid-vibe. As he gained control of his powers, the vibes became less frequent but the memories, the feelings, he couldn’t shake them. Of the whole house, there was one room Cisco often walked past, but never dared to enter. He was scared for what he might see or feel; scared that he’ll not be able to resist the urge to breach back to his Earth. Cisco passed Harry’s room multiple times a day, it being just down the hall from his own temporary room. More than once cisco had stopped in front of it, held his hand over the handle, then dropped it back to his side and kept walking.

   ‘At this rate, the paradoxes will reach dad—’ Johnny sighed, ‘Eobard,’ he corrected, ‘—before the team even finds him.’ He thought aloud as he rearranged the cards in his hand.

   ‘Maybe they have reached him.’ Jesse supplied. ‘Maybe they haven’t found him yet because he’s already d— gone.’ She rephrased, glancing at Johnny’s fluctuating face, unsure of how sad he should be at the circumstances. ‘They’ll tell us when it’s safe to go back.’ She reasoned. ‘Got any 7s?’

   ‘Go fish.’ Johnny replied, and Jesse picked up a card. ‘I just hate not knowing, y’know?’ He hummed, still sitting upside down. ‘Cisco, any aces?’

   Cisco jumped at being addressed, having zoned out of the conversation long ago. Rain was lightly pattering on the window near them and the living room was lit only by the dim, greying light from the mid afternoon sky. He handed Johnny his ace from where he sat on the ground and had a short vibe of Johnny’s cards while they both held the ace. He’d been cheating the whole time but neither had a clue.

   ‘Give me your 5.’ Cisco requested. Johnny huffed and handed it over.

   ‘I swear you’re cheating.’ Jesse spoke up. Cisco gave an offended gasp.

   ‘How dare you insinuate such a thing. _Me_? _Cheating_? I’ll have you know I am a superhero.’ He played up the dramatics

   ‘He’s totally cheating!’ Yelled Johnny.

   ‘Busted.’ Cisco grinned lazily. They all threw their cards on the coffee table, bored of the game anyway. ‘I’m going to go shower, y’all should have something to eat.’ He said. Johnny hoped to his feet, saying something about it being a good point and patting his belly. Jesse stayed to help Cisco pick up the cards.

   It was silent for a few minutes and Cisco could _feel_ the nervous energy emitting from Jesse as she wanted to speak, finally landing on ‘Aren’t you going to come eat too?’

   ‘Not really hungry.’ He brushed off. Jesse sighed but didn’t push as she handed Cisco the cards she’d picked up for him to slide into the packet with his own.

   ‘Are you doing okay? You’re really distant.’ She went to place her hand on his arm but he instinctively flinched away from the touch, she lowered her hand and he looked like he wanted to apologise but bit his tongue.

   ‘Considering everything that is happening, and that has happened, I could be worse. I’ll be alright, Jesse Quick.’ He offered and Jesse gave a small smile at the affectionate use of her nickname. Cisco hesitated at first but then came to rest his hand on her shoulder, before pulling her into a hug. ‘Now go get something to eat.’

   By that night, the light pattering of rain had evolved to pounding on the bedroom window. The winds howled and Cisco found himself jumping everytime lightning flashed through the thin curtains. He wasn’t scared of storms, he hadn’t been in years, but tonight his anxiety was through the roof, and he would’ve given anything to be at home. Cisco tossed and turned for hours before electing to go downstairs for a glass of water. His socked feet padded along the floor, inaudible under the rumbling of thunder and winds. On the way back to his room, however, Cisco had barely made it down the hallway when something compelled him to stop in his tracks. Turning to the left, Cisco eyed the door up and down, moving to it like a ghost in the night and settling his hand over the brass doorknob. This time Cisco turned the handle and pushed the door open, willing himself to step inside, shutting the door behind himself and leaning against it.

   Harry’s room was dark. Thick, black curtains blocked the light from the windows, letting through only enough moonlight and lightning flashes to be able to make out the silhouettes of random clothing articles and papers strewn across the floor. Cisco could make out two doors adjacent the hallway which he presumed led to an ensuit bathroom and a walk-in robe. The opposite side of the room had what looked like an old vanity covered in a thick layer of dust, and dark silhouettes of jewellery dimly shining in each flash of lightning. A large television hung on the wall opposite the bed, next to the hallway door, and a set of cupboards filled with DVDs, VHSs, and books sat underneath. Every surface seemed to be covered in messy collections of photographs, which Cisco couldn’t make out in the dark. Cisco sat down on the bed, lined with black satin sheets, and picked up a photograph which he could barely distinguish as an image of Jesse who looked to be 5 and playing at a park. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Cisco examined a range of photographs from wedding pictures to family photos and images of Harry dressed as a soldier. Some made Cisco smile, other made him frown, and some photos filled him with a strange bittersweet feeling.

   Deciding he still wasn’t tired enough to return to his room, and to his unending battle with insomnia, Cisco thought it would be no harm to look through the drawers in the bedside table. Morally, he knew he shouldn’t be snooping through Harry’s things, but suddenly a pile of letters was in his hand and he was reading before he could stop. There was a surprising amount of love letters to and from Harry’s wife who Cisco deducted had been Earth 2’s Tess Morgan. Cisco stopped himself from reading them thoroughly, but he saw enough to, for the first time, be able to draw connections between Harry and H.R. Cisco smiled to himself as he wondered how Harry could be such a beautiful writer on paper while being so emotionally inept in real life. Cisco also discovered a notebook in which taped to the first page appeared to be wedding vows. Cisco put the notebook down without reading any of it. He discovered a gold wedding band and inspected it in the dim light before setting it on the bedside table. Finally, tucked at the back of the drawers, Cisco found a thick collection of postcards being held together by elastic bands.

   Cisco laid down on the satin sheets and removed the elastic bands, placing them to the side as he lifted the postcards one by one into the moonlight. He hadn’t noticed that the rain had finally stopped, nor had he noticed his eyes growing steadily heavier with every note he read, each enclosed with messages varying from “I miss you”s to stories from the trenches, stories drenched in pain and splattered with blood — some literally — and tales of seeing follow soldiers, friends, brothers, for the last time. When Cisco finally drifted to sleep, it was with dried tear stains on his cheeks, and a card still clasped in his hand, plus an oncoming storm of visions and vibes to fill his mind for the night.

 

   When Cisco opened his eyes it was dark — pitch black, in fact — and deadly silent. He wasn’t sure how long he sat in the darkness until there was a sudden flash of lightning that made him jump nearly out of his skin. There was no thunder that followed, only a sickeningly familiar laugh that seemed to reverberate throughout his mind. As a dim light began to fill the room, Cisco came face to face with his own reflection. He was sitting on a lumpy mattress and as he further examined the room it was clear where he was. The cell in the warehouse looked the same as ever, and there on the other side of the glass stood Thawne, but instead of seeing Johnny beside him, he saw a woman; a woman who he had only ever seen before in photographs.

   Cisco shivered violently as a wave of nausea hit, and suddenly he was coughing uncontrollably. Every few seconds he would cough up a small, liquidy, blue blob of energy, and by time the coughing cease his lunged were aching and tears stung his eyes.

   ‘I don’t understand—’ he mumbled with a raw throat. His bones and muscles ached with every new set of shivers and he balled his hands into fists in the mattress. It felt so real. ‘ _Why am I here?! I got out!_ ’ he insisted. Thawne smiled but still didn’t speak. Cisco felt tears roll down his cheek and cursed himself for how badly he wanted to lie down and sleep, rather than fighting. ‘I got out . . .’ He mumbled again, trying to convince himself more than anything.

   The woman stalked forwards and Cisco lifted his head to meet her gaze. She put a hand on the glass and opened her mouth to speak. Instead of words, the retched sound of gunfire came from the woman’s mouth. Cisco tried to cover his ears but the sound penetrated his mind.

   When he opened his eyes again, he was met with the sight of dust and soot and so many people all decked out in green, each holding a weapon of some caliber. The woman’s gunfire never ceased but she was now nowhere to be seen. Instead, the sound was joined by yelling, screaming, and the occasional boom of an explosion. Cisco frantically looked around the scene until he came face to face with someone familiar. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Harry and it was like everything moved in slow motion. Harry turned to face Cisco’s direction, looking younger than Cisco could’ve imagined, and startlingly blue eyes stared directly through Cisco at something a short way down the trench. Cisco turned to look in the same direction that Harry was looking in and suddenly everything burst back into full speed acompanied this time by a deafening boom and a blinding light.

   When the white light faded, Cisco found himself in a dark tent, arms bound to a chair. He couldn’t seem to stop shaking but couldn’t place why. That’s when he heard the whisper from next to him. He wasn’t alone.

   ‘Hey,’ the voice called quietly. ‘Flynn, listen to me,’ Cisco recognised the voice instantly. How could he not? Turning his head slightly to the side, Cisco caught a glimpse of Harry in a similar position to himself but he was bloodied and bruised and part of Cisco’s heart broke. ‘Just don’t say a word. I’ll keep them busy.’ Harry spoke in a gruff tone.

   Cisco didn’t know what Harry was trying to say, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying to plead, ‘No, please, this is my fault.’ The shaky words felt foreign and Cisco barely registered that he was the one saying them. Before the two could say anymore, someone stormed into the tent. It was Thawne. Why was Thawne here? Cisco could hear shouting from next to him but didn’t register what they were saying as Thawne pulled him to his feet, the restraints disappearing. Were there any restraints to begin with? Cisco tried and failed to remember, instead turning to see the containment field, his laptop, the elevator Thawne had come out of. None of this made any sense. The containment field should have worked. How did The Reverse Flash get free? As Thawne stalked forward Cisco scrambled for something to say.

   ‘I can help you.’ He blurted.

   ‘Oh, you’re smart.’ Thawne spoke and Cisco blinked, confused. ‘But you’re not that smart.’ Thawne stopped moving and everything seemed to twist and turn around him, distant echoes of ‘It was never my intention to kill Nora,’ ‘I’ve grown quite fond of you,’ and ‘Let’s call him a distant relative,’ and more swirled in Cisco’s mind, all the while Thawne’s mouth didn’t move once. Finally everything slowed to a stop and Thawne finally spoke, saying ‘Forgive me, but to me, you've been dead for centuries.’ And with the final remark, Thawne moved his speeding hand forwards to Cisco’s heart. Cisco braced himself for the pain but it never came. Instead he opened his eyes to find a beautiful woman lying in a hospital bed, her hand placed on Cisco’s chest, over his heart. Cisco held it there as the woman’s eyes fluttered shut and a loud, piercing beep rang out through the room.

   ‘No,’ He whispered. ‘ _No, please, I can’t do this alone!’_ the shaky words again felt foreign, as if they were being said by someone standing behind him. He backed himself into the wall and pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to block out the tears, and when he blinked them open he was leaning against the front door to the house. The house that suddenly seemed so big, and so empty, and so cold. Jesse was staying with Harry’s mothers and— _oh god, what was he going to tell Jesse?_ Before he knew it, the door had disappeared from behind him and suddenly Cisco was falling through a blue world showing him visions of Dante and Snart, H.R and Savitar, Jesse and Zoom. He tried desperately to grip onto something solid but everything slipped through his fingers like sand, or like water.

   Finally he landed on something soft and cold; so cold Cisco was sure he was dead. Until he blinked his eyes open and saw a pale pink light filtering through dark curtains. Cisco groaned and rolled over on the bed, reveling in the softness of the satin sheets and the comforting yet indescribable scent that lingered on them, a scent that was so undeniably Harry. Cisco smiled to himself but it didn’t last long as memories of last night’s dreams came back to him. Finally he pushed himself up on the bed and stretched, just then realising how cold the house had become overnight. He gathered the postcards still lying on the bed from the night previously and tied them with the elastic bands once more before filing them into the back of the bedside table drawer, noting that the clock read 7:12am.

   Quietly padding through the house, Cisco found the thermostat near the bottom of the staircase and then, as the house warmed up, made his way into the kitchen to begin making breakfast for the two still-sleeping teenagers. At least through cooking he would be able to take his mind off of the images that continued to flood his mind. Visions of death, and war, and pain. This worked for a while until the kitchen was filled with chatter and laughter from the two speedsters, and his plate was almost empty. Johnny finished breakfast quickly and opted to go out for a quick run leaving Cisco and jesse alone at the marble-topped island in the kitchen.

   ‘You know my dad, likes you, right?’ Jesse blurts out of nowhere, making Cisco look up at her, confused.

   ‘Damn, Quick, I’d hope so, seeing as we’ve been sharing a work space for the past 3 years.’ He joked, causing Jesse to roll her her eyes.

   ‘I mean he _like likes_ you.’ She pressed and it was Cisco’s turn to roll his eyes.

   ‘What are you? Twelve?’ He questioned. ‘Besides, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Cisco pushed his food around on the plate, looking at his own maple-y reflection. Of course he thought Harry was hot, and, sure, at times it felt like he was the only person on the team who understood Cisco, and Cisco couldn’t deny that he’d had more than once thought about what it would be like to kiss Harry, and hold his hand, and run his fingers through his perpetually messy hair. But Cisco always shrugged them off as dead-end fantasies, and considered Harry off-limits for a number of reasons.

   ‘No really,’ Jesse continued. ‘Whenever we talk about Earth 1 he always drags the conversation back to you. It’s always Ramon this, Ramon that, can you believe what Ramon did? It’s _embarrassing_.’ She huffed. ‘And, _oh my god_ , you should hear how he compares the employees to you.’ Jesse put on a deep voice and imitated her father, saying: ‘Ramon could’ve done this in a day; Ramon would’ve used that instead; Ramon would have been able to figure that out on his own without having to call me and _waste my time_.’ Cisco couldn’t help bur laught at Jesse’s words. ‘I mean, do you think he would fight a time-traveling evil speedster on another Earth for  _just anybody_?’ She joked.

   ‘I guess I just figured it was one of his hobbies.’ Cisco quipped back.

   ‘My dad doesn’t have hobbies.’ She reminded him. ‘But besides, you’re basically already part of the family at this point.’ She said the last sentence softly, as though it was intended to be a joke but she left room for sincerity to fill her words. Cisco tried and failed to think of a response but was saved by Johnny speeding into the room raving about a stash of comics he found hidden away in the house.

   As he ate his last pancake, Cisco sat deep in thought about Jesse’s words, his dreams from the night before, and the vibes from the past days. Though he opted to ignore any thoughts or memories regarding Thawne. There was still a plethora of questions buzzing through Cisco’s mind. Had Harry really been a POW?; Who was Flynn?; and what had vibe-Harry meant when he said he would ‘keep them busy’? Cisco could only assume the worst and he shivered as the thoughts filled his mind and guilt filled his heart. Guilt over the fact that he was here, safe and eating pancakes, while Harry and the rest of the team were back home trying to fight his battles for him.

   ‘ _Cisco?_ ’ He heard Jesse call distantly. ‘ _Hey, Cisco?_ ’ She cooed, waving a hand in front of his face. He noticed it was quiet now and wondered how long Jesse had been trying to talk to him.

   Without waiting to hear her next words, or even looking up from his plate, Cisco spoke the thought that was buzzing at the forefront of his mind. ‘I’m going back.’

   ‘What?’ Jesse asked rhetorically. ‘No you’re not.’ She stated as if it was final.

   This time he looked up and met her gaze. They were sitting on opposite sides of the marble island in the kitchen, eyes locked in steely determination. Standing at the end of the island, Johnny had looked up from the comic book he was reading and was now watching the pair. ‘Yes, I am.’ Cisco decided. ‘Thawne came for me, I’m not just going to hang around here cooped up until he decides to come find me. I’m going back and joining the fight.’ He had leaned forwards on the island and Jesse imitated the movement, neither backing down.

   ‘My dad told us to stay here until it was safe.’ She tried to defend, as if she too wasn’t seconds away from running back and helping.

   ‘No, he told _you_ to stay.’ Cisco countered. ‘He told _me_ to stop being everyone’s blindly obedient puppy.’ He said spitefully before leaning back for a moment to think. ‘So . . . Technically I’m still doing what he said by not doing what he said but that’s beside the point.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m going back and no Wells is going to stop me.’

   ‘Can you even breach yet? Or vibe blast?’ She asked and, without removing his eyes from where they were locked on Jesse’s, Cisco raised his arm to face the window to his left and shot a blast directly through it, shattering the glass and making both speedsters jump.

   ‘Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go pack.’ He said, opening a breach to his room.

   Jesse let out a huff of frustration after Cisco had disappeared through the breach. She turned around in the direction of the staircase and yelled, ‘ _You’re paying to replace that window!_ ’

   ‘ _That’s fair!_ ’ Came Cisco’s muffled response.

 

   Within minutes Cisco was back downstairs with a bag packed and decked out in his Vibe gear. The three were stood in the foyer near the front door of the house looking anxious. Cisco was the first to speak.

   ‘I vibed Earth 1.’ He announced. ‘The fight has begun, Thawne has resorted to using time remnants to fight. I promise I’ll keep you both updated—’ he started but was interrupted by Jesse.

   ‘You won’t have to. We’re coming too.’

   ‘Uh, no you’re not.’ He laughed faintly. ‘Thawne is already going to kill me, I don’t need your dad murdering me too if I bring you along.’ He joked and Jesse punched his arm hard.

   ‘ _Don’t joke like that!_ ’ She reprimanded.

   Cisco rubbed his now sore arm but smiled none the less. He placed both hands on Jesse’s shoulders and said to her with a smile, ‘Jesse Quick, I promise to never again joke about dying, as long as you promise to stay here until I tell you it’s safe.’ Reluctantly she returned the smile and agreed. ‘Pinky promise?’ He asked with a laugh.

   ‘Pinky promise.’ She said, wrapping her pink around his before wrapping her arms around him in a hug which he easily returned. ‘Come home safe, okay?’

   ‘Always.’ He agreed. ‘And Johnny,’ he announced, turning to face Johnny. ‘Take care of yourself.’ Johnny gave a curt nod and with that Cisco was breaching to another Earth with only a final glance to the teenagers behind him and an unsettling feelings that he was walking into something more than just the S.T.A.R. Labs breach room.

 

   The first thing Cisco saw when he stepped out of the breach was Barry who was wearing his suit and appeared incredibly scratched up an out of breath. Worry instantly took hold of Cisco as he took in the sight of his friend.

   ‘Cisco— Thawne, he— Remnants— I— . . . ’ Barry stammered out but Cisco held out a hand to stop him.

   ‘I know, Barry.’ He affirmed. ‘I’m here to help.’ Barry smiled as he caught his breath. ‘What’s our plan?’

   ‘We have a timer . . . Counting down until the estimated time of when the paradoxes will reach him.’ Barry explained. ‘We tried to negotiate with him but he wouldn’t listen. At this point we’re just trying to keep him busy until the timer reaches 0.’ Cisco nodded as he took in Barry’s words, while activating his communication systems.

   ‘Cisco, is that you?’ Iris’ voice crackled to life in his ear.

   ‘The one and only.’ Was his response. ‘Alright, Barry, lets go.’ He said and not a second later Barry had flashed them both to the location of the fight. Near the docks, how cliché.

    ‘Give it up, Flash. You lot will never win.’ Some version of Thawne spoke when Barry returned.

   ‘But suddenly a new contender has emerged.’ Cisco laughed coilly as he took measured steps towards Thawne. ‘And I heard you’re running on borrowed time.’ He shot a vibe blast directly at Thawne who was too caught off gaurd by Cisco’s return to move out of the way in time. The blast hit him directly in the chest.

   Thawne cocked his head to the side in a menacing fashion before rushing forward to pin Cisco to a metal moving crate by the throat. ‘It wasn’t wise of you to return, Cisco.’ He hissed.

   ‘Man . . . this is the thanks I get for . . . looking after your kid? . . . You know, . . . keeping them safe, making sure they felt . . . happy and loved. . . . Something you never quite . . . managed . . . to do.’ Cisco paused between words as he struggled to speak and flailed his hands trying to grab at Thawne’s. Yet he insisted on taunting Thawne none the less.

   ‘ _Where is my daughter?!_ ’ Thawne snapped as he pushed harder down on the man in his grasp.

   ‘Hey . . . Chill out man . . .’ Cisco wheezed out, struggling to reach his arm out towards Thawne’s face, and a tantalising grin forming on his face and he tried to muster the energy to say his next sentence. ‘Sounds like you need to . . . Blow off a little steam.’ Once the words were out of his mouth Cisco shot a vibe blast directly at Thawne’s head. A blue light and a splatter of blood later and Cisco had been dropped back to his feet as Thawne’s now still body hit the floor, a gaping hole in the side of his head where Cisco’s hand had been mere moments ago. Cisco coughed and hunched over as he gasped for breath. ‘Woah, head shot.’ He laughed through broken breaths.

   ‘Vibe, it’s great that you’re back and able to fight but we still have about 4 Thawne remnants to take down when you’re done making jokes.’ What sounded like Caitlin — or more likely Frost — said into the coms.

   Cisco laughed again. ‘Sorry Frost. Good to hear your voice.’ He responded. He heard her say something else but couldn’t make out the words as another Thawne remnant spotted Cisco and began to run in his direction. Cisco acted quickly and breached behind a moving crate before Thawne could reach him. When Cisco stumbled out of his hastily made breach his instantly came face to face with the man who had been on the forefront of his mind for the past god knows how long. Harry was wearing his dad cap and a black coat over his usual black jumper. The pulse rifle was grasped tightly in his hands and pointed directly at Cisco. Harry dropped the rifle to his side when he saw it was Cisco standing in front of him.

   Cisco took a steadying breath but the sight of Harry, so real and so close, was enough to make something in Cisco’s heart break and heal at once. There was an impossible force that suddenly sent Cisco moving forward. Moving, and kissing, and of course this was the worst time for this to happen, but Cisco couldn’t seem to find a reason to care because this was it. When they’re on the brink of annihilation, in the very eye of the storm, but none of it mattered because right there is where the world stops; where two sides of karma; two worlds of existence come together, pause, and take a breath. The skies could darken, and the floors could open up, but the only thing that mattered was them. The only moment that mattered was right then because Harry is the only person Cisco could really think of for the past few weeks, and maybe neither of them are that good at emotions, maybe they became too good at hiding behind jokes and snarky comments, but they’re there and they’re real. So Cisco kissed Harry, and hoped he understood, and given how Harry pulled him closer, Cisco was pretty sure he did.

   They eventually pulled apart and for the first time neither knew quite what to say.

   ‘Ramon,’ Harry started and Cisco blinked back into reality.

   ‘Not now.’ Cisco decided, pushing away from Harry’s grasp and peeking around the corner of the moving crate. ‘Our lives are fucked, everything is a mess, and we have a lot to talk about, but not now.’ He hid behind the crate again as a Thawne remnant almost saw him. ‘Also I smashed a window in your house.’ he confessed. Before Harry could react the Thawne Cisco had seen seconds ago sped around the corner, effectively knocking Cisco off his feet and pinning him down.

   ‘Not this time, you sick fuck.’ Harry spat as he shot something directly at Thawne, hitting him in the neck. ‘That ice feeling is the speedforce leaving your body, Thawne.’ He spoke as he stood over and kicked Thawne in the side, forcing him to the floor. Harry offered Cisco his hand pulled the boy off the floor before turning to a determined looking Thawne.

   ‘I may not have my speed but I can still beat you.’ He stood. Cisco watched on in shock and awe as the two men fought, and searched desperately for a place to intervene and finish the fight. Finally there was an opening and Cisco shot another Vibe blast directly at Thawne, hitting him in the head again. This time it was powerful enough to scramble his mind leaving him a confused, blubbering mess, as if he’d just taken a bad trip on the Wave Rider. Harry put him out of his misery by pushing the pulse riffle to Thawne’s chest and pulling the trigger. Cisco couldn’t understand the feeling he experienced whenever he watched a remnant die. He understood it was their destiny, what they were literally made for, and it was a cruel reality. He briefly wondered how many remnants were left before a voice speaking through the coms answered his question.

   ‘So you’ve managed to destroy all of my remnants? Congratulations. But you still haven’t won.’ Thawne’s voice spoke.

   ‘How did you get on this line?’ Barry asked. ‘Iris? Iris, are you still there?’ He questioned as panic began to rise in his voice. No response from Iris came.

   Thawne only laughed darkly at this. ‘Give me Cisco.’ He began. ‘Do this and none will be harmed. Give me Cisco and I shall leave Central City untouched. You have one hour.

    ‘Yeah, okay, Voldemort. How about go fuck yourself?’ Cisco grit, glaring at nothing. He turned to Harry but there was a sudden crackle of lighting and Harry as gone from where he had just been standing. ‘ _No! Get back here you son son a bitch!_ ’ he yelled after the speedster. ‘Barry?’ He said into the coms. ‘He just took Harry.’

   ‘He took Joe as well. Meet Cait and I at the house.’ Barry spoke. Cisco could tell he was trying to stay calm but it was clear how scared he was. ‘He gave us an hour because that’s how long he has left. _Isn’t that right, Thawne?_ ’ Barry asked the coms but they only crackled quietly. There was no response but they knew he was still listening. He was always listening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only two chapters to go ... what could go wrong?


End file.
